


Fool Me Twice

by Charmkeeper



Series: Fools and Shame [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Eventual OT3?, Gladnis, I know it sounds like comedy, M/M, Or Specism really, Promnis - Freeform, Racism, Sort Of, They didn't ask to raise a baby, They just wanted a spell ingredient, Witch AU, but here they are, but it's really not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2019-12-18 09:58:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 56,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18247526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charmkeeper/pseuds/Charmkeeper
Summary: Ignis had bartered for the babe years ago now. It was supposed to be his. Too bad it was promised to someone else too.





	1. In Which a Vow is Sealed With a Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY FRIDAY TO ALL.
> 
> You all can blame BossGoose for getting this stuck in my head.
> 
> This story will update when chapters are finished, but never less than two weeks apart, and always on a Friday.
> 
> Enjoy. <3

"Well. This is super awkward."

As thoroughly vexed as Ignis was with everything about this scene, awkward was perhaps the best word to describe it. Two witches wearing their best witch's hats before two human adults and their child while they sat at the table eating a meal. One witch was bad enough for the humans, he was sure, but two witches spelled out trouble for everyone in the room. Something had gone wrong. The nervous chuckle Argentum gave off only added to that air of surprised awkwardness. No one else in the room was making any sound at all, save for the small babe, not quite yet a toddler, who was making typical baby noises from its seat. Internally, Ignis sighed. There was nothing else for it, he was simply going to have to get down to business, and hope Argentum didn't try to get in his way.

"My name is Ignis Scientia, and I am here to collect Aulea Lucis-Caelum's firstborn child on their first nameday, as agreed four years ago."

To her credit, or perhaps detriment, Aulea did not move to grab her child and run. Humans were notorious for trying to get out of their bargains. Many mothers tended to hide their children or tried to trick them with bundles of straw. They were greedy, and wanted to get something for nothing. Ignis knew the humans even had stories about such trickery and winning against their kind. _Winning_ , like it was a battle. Such stories were fallacies. A witch always got their price in the end. Of course, never had Ignis heard of two witches showing up at the same human's home at the same time either. He could only hope that Argentum saw he had the greater claim to the child and kept his mouth shut.

"I understand," Aulea said softly, and then Argentum opened up his mouth. That was when Ignis knew getting his firstborn was going to be a fight.

"Now wait a second. I'm Prompto Argentum, and I am here to collect _Regis_ Lucis-Caelum's firstborn child on their first nameday, as agreed eighteen months ago."

Aulea's head whipped around to look at her husband. "You sold him too, Regis?"

"You..." Regis shook his head a little. "You were so sick with the pregnancy. I knew it was either lose the child or lose you both. I begged and wished for the witch's help, and here you are. I. Do not regret the choice." Of course not, Ignis thought. They could have more children, but true love between humans was rare, especially when said true love had been bought with a very powerful Amare potion some four years prior. Of course, the potion itself had worn off years ago now, but it had clearly done its work perfectly, and the "love" and stuck for truth.

Still, this was trouble, and Ignis knew it. If it had been simply been Aulea to sell her child twice, Ignis would have the greater claim no doubt, but it hadn't been that way. Regis had sold the child to Prompto. Neither one of them could have another firstborn, and they were both owed the child they'd come to collect. They both had a legal, rightful claim to...it. Ignis glowered as the child gurgled happily, blissfully unaware that two people had come to end its miserable life, or, well, Ignis assumed Prompto wanted it for some blood ritual or potion. There was little else a witch did with a human child. Except spit roasting at special occasions, but those days had mostly passed as hunger had become a thing of the past for them.

"What are we going to do?"

"I suppose you'll just have to share." A heavy bag of baby things was being shoved into Ignis' arms, and the child itself was being shoved at Prompto. "His name is Noctis. You'll be happy to know he sleeps through the night, no problem." With that, they were both, rather unceremoniously, shoved from the house, and the door was shut and locked behind them. As though they had arrived through the front door. As though a feeble human lock could keep determined witches out.

"Uh." Argentum began, even as Noctis reached up to grab hold of a bit of golden hair. "I can't share this child. I need all of it."

"As do I, Argentum."

"Prompto," he corrected, rather harshly, considering his rather mousy tone up to that point.

"...Prompto," Ignis conceded. "Look, I clearly made my deal far before you did. I should get the child."

"No way!" Argent-- Prompto clutched the child to his chest, as thought he actually meant to protect it. As they they both weren't planning on throwing it in a boiling cauldron or something similarly fatal. "I know my rights. I did a job! I have the right to be paid for my work!"

"Then ask them for something else."

"You ask them for something else! They don't have anything else I need!"

They didn't have anything else Ignis wanted either. As much as it left a bitterness in Ignis' mouth, Aulea had been right. They would have to share. Somehow. This did not bode well for his potion development.

Ar--Prompto took off down the road at a pace that wasn't quite a run, and Ignis followed, refusing to allow the babe out of his sight. The air between them was charged with anger, but neither of them said anything as they all but careened out of town and into the forest. The only sounds were Noctis (the child cooed at practically everything, still blissfully unaware of the oncoming end) and the earliest autumn leaves crunching under their formal pointed witch's boots.

\--Ah. Yes. That was perhaps also a part of why Prompto had been keen on leaving at such a fast pace. Humans found them useful, but useful did nothing for them after dark. Two witches in their formal witch's garb and carrying a child, wandering a human town after dusk? They'd be burned. Quickly. They wouldn't catch Ignis, but Prompto was younger and probably of a very different skill set. It was important for him to get back to their town quickly.

"You'll move more quickly if you hand the child over."

His honestly innocent statement was met with a glare and a tightening of arms around Noctis. "I..." For a second, Ignis actually found himself lost for words. They couldn't carry on like this. Prompto currently had the child, and wanted it desperately for something, but Ignis was in the same boat. He needed to finish that potion, and it definitely required the essence of a firstborn human child. It was doubtless that Prompto thought if he handed the child over, he'd never see it again. Honestly, Ignis thought much the same. If Prompto disappeared into his house with it, Ignis would never get his price.

How. Vexing.

"I promise. I won't run off with it. I'll meet you at the Wishing Tree. We'll discuss what we must do there."

"Do you really promise?"

Ignis couldn't help but scoff a little. "I'm not a human, and I'm no oathbreaker. I keep my word." It was part of what separated them. Humans lied, deceived, and broke promises, but Others did not. Perhaps they didn't say everything they intended now and then and perhaps that caused more than a little bitterness on the humans' end, but it was all well deserved. Others that outright lied and broke their word had no place in their towns and villages. They were even worse than the humans. Everyone knew that. Meaning, if he promised to meet Prompto by the Wishing Tree, he meant it. Prompto ought to know that as truly as he knew his own name.

Despite that, it still took Prompto a good ten seconds to loosen his hold on the babe. "All right. I'll meet you at the Wishing Tree."

"I'll be waiting." Ignis lifted Noctis out of Prompto arms, and in the next breath in he was gone. With the next breath out the Wishing Tree twinkled above him. It was already getting late if he could see the twinkle of the wishes in its fruit. Prompto needed to hurry if he didn't want to risk being caught out. This early the risk would be small, but it wasn't something Ignis would want to risk himself.

With a sigh Ignis bounced the child higher up on his hip. It laughed. It laughed harder when he glared down at it, and Ignis idly wondered what it must be like to be so carefree.

They waited. Even without a child encumbering him, it took Prompto ten whole minutes to appear in the dusk glow. He was running, the folds of his cloak billowing behind him, hat held firmly in place by one hand that made the running look as awkward as their meeting at the Lucis-Caelum's place had felt . Still, he'd made it to the Wishing Tree before full dark, before witch-hunting legally started, and that Ignis supposed that was what success looked like in its simplest form.

"Did you truly not have any other form of transport?"

"Shut up!" Prompto snapped at him between gasping breaths. "This is healthier."

"Ah, of course. My mistake."

"Damn right, your mistake!" Vulgar it might be, but the way Prompto simply shrugged off his sarcasm made him smile. Just a little. Then the babe cooed and it brought them back to their dilemma.

"We should settle this matter."

"...Yeah." Previously, Prompto had been bent over in half as he'd tried to catch his breath, but now he straightened himself out and settled himself into a spot too close for Ignis' personal comfort. "I'm...guessing we're not going to agree on what we should use him for, huh?"

"Not unless you're also trying to develop a potion that will help people the world over."

Prompto laughed nervously, head shaking in a negative motion. "Man, that makes me sound like such an asshole, but no. My use for a firstborn is much more personal. And more dire."

More dire. Ignis refrained from rolling his eyes. Prompto lived in a protected town, had a roof over his head, and a sister to keep him company. All his needs were met. There was nothing dire about his situation, except perhaps a wish he was having trouble granting. Meanwhile, he was trying to develop something that might save thousands of people, perhaps millions, over time. "Then we are unfortunately at odds."

"I figured," Prompto said with a put upon sighed that Ignis felt mirrored in his own soul. "We're just gonna have to figure it out, I guess."

"How?"

"I dunno!" Prompto hunched his shoulders up against his neck. "And it's clearly not gonna happen right here, right now! So..."

"So?"

"So I guess we're gonna have to take care of him until we figure it out."

 _Him_. It was so odd how Prompto bothered to apply gender pronouns to the babe. Like it was ever going to be a person, even in that feeble way fully grown humans acted. "And how do you propose we do that? Buy a house? Move in together? Treat it like our own child?" How preposterous. The very thought of that level of ridiculous domesticity made Ignis want to gag or laugh. Perhaps both.

"I mean. No? You get it one week and then I take it the next. I guess? I mean, we've gotta share, so half on half off is fair, right?"

Ignis was loath to admit it, but that was fair, perfectly fair even. It gave them time, but not too much. The babe would start to lose its potency by its second nameday, and Ignis was sure that was something neither one of them wanted to happen. A year. They had a year to agree on what they would do with the babe. "Fine. Who gets the babe first?"

"You," Prompto said without hesitation. "I. Uh. My place isn't exactly infant safe."

Truth be told, Ignis' house was far from safe for grabby little human baby hands either, but he wasn't going to complain. "Fine by me. Anything else?"

"Yeah. I'm...gonna need assurance that you're not just gonna throw him in a pot the moment you get back. And don't! Say your word as a witch is enough. It's so not."

"You're quite the distrustful man. You do know that, don't you?"

"Can you blame me? We're talking about, like, the rarest ingredient to get your hands on here."

Ignis couldn't argue with that. He'd been scheming to get his hands on a firstborn human for...well...at least six years. Perhaps longer. Humans bred early and often, and were usually terribly fertile, yet they guarded their children, especially firstborn males, like they were the only child they'd ever have. Personally, Ignis felt more bond with creatures that tended to eat their young.

To get your hands on a firstborn, you had to catch a wish before the person had their first child, and they had to be desperate enough to want something more than their future child. Then you had to wait for them to actually have the child. After that it was often a fight to get them to let go, like they hadn't known this was coming. Like they couldn't have ten more children. Witches were often lucky to have one child in their entire lives, if they were lucky enough to live their full lives. Humans didn't know how good they had it in that regard. It was true, they had gotten their hands on a very rare ingredient. It might take a decade to get their hands on another. "How about a Vow?"

"I'm down. Exact terms?"

"I will have the child for a week, and then you will. We trade every Shiva-Tide, until we come to a consensus or one of us hands the child over to the other. Should the child's life be used for a purpose not agreed upon, the trespasser will be responsible for getting the other a new babe. We must agree within the year. Do you agree?"

Prompto thought it over, perhaps his apparently suspicious mind was trying to find some fault. Not that Ignis had been overly careful with the words, he liked clear cut and defined, and this was certainly that. It was also simple enough that it gave them a little wiggle room to do what they wanted with the child as long as it wasn't fatal. Not that Ignis had any use for anything less than its whole being. It wasn't very powerful unless it was whole.

"I agree."

"Excellent. Let us seal it."

Prompto had to push himself up on his toes a little, and Ignis had to lean down, which wasn't easy with the child in his arms. Prompto's lips were warm, but dry as they touched in a kiss. They seemed like they were bitten, perhaps the result of a nervous tick. It didn't matter, they could be cracked and bleeding, and still the Vow would seal. In fact, the Vow actually made a soft, yet audible pop between their lips as Ignis pulled away again, and there was a soft tug on his heart that told him they were now beholden to one another. For now. Ignis was sure he could convince Prompto to hand the babe over soon enough. He gave it a month, at most.

"I'll see you on Shiva-Tide."

"Of course."

Ignis watched as Prompto reached up into the Wishing Tree and plucked a fruit that must have been calling to him. He lingered just long enough for Ignis to see its bright sparkle fade into a deep red glow before Prompto ran off, disappearing into the safety of their town beyond the trees. That was that.

Now Ignis just had to figure out how to convince Prompto to give up the child he held in his arms. He might mentally give it a month, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little thing about weeks/months/years.
> 
> Witches/Others in this world use a different calendar than the humans do.
> 
> A week is six days long, and each one is named after one of their six gods. (Shiva-Tide would be their equivalent of Sunday.)
> 
> There are exactly five weeks in a month, and thirteen months in a year, each month being called after one of the Royal Arms in FFXV. (The Month of the Father, The Month of the Wise, etc.)
> 
> They still have four seasons though, and their holidays are ruled by equinoxes and solstices.
> 
> So, all in all, while their weeks are a little shorter, their years are a little longer. It's not super important to the story, if you forget, but I thought it would be good to know.


	2. In Which There is a Great Deal of Frustration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> Please enjoy this offering.

It was so small.

It was just so small that Ignis had yet to understand how Noctis managed to cause so much damage. He had desperately spent the last week trying to ensure the child didn't kill itself before he could use it. It was often a game of chase, with Ignis just barely managing to grab this ingredient or that potion out of Noctis' tiny hands before it stuck something in its mouth. Telling it off for things did nothing, it only made Noctis stare at him with wide blue eyes. Sometimes there would be tears. Sometimes there would be laughter. Ignis wasn't sure which one was more vexing.

After the first day, in which Noctis had managed to cover itself in Ignis' entire supply of rosemary and powered hound's tongue, Ignis had tried not separating from the child. It wasn't a viable option. Within an hour it grew heavy on his hip, and those hands grabbed onto everything, from Ignis clothing, to his hair, to the spoon in his hand, to his...glasses. The six dammed child had ripped the glasses from his face and had then thrown them into the Fortuna potion he'd been crafting, effectively ruining both the potion and his glasses.

Ignis had given serious thought to breaking the Vow and owning up to owing Prompto a new firstborn at that point.

The next day he'd tried to leave the child in its makeshift bassinet, only to find that, no, he couldn't ignore the wailing cries all day long. It had seemed simple at first, he routinely tuned out other noises while he worked, but the sound grated like Ramuh's thunder and eventually Ignis was forced to let the child roam. Noctis couldn't quite walk steadily yet. It did more of a half-crawl/half-walk sort of thing that often resulted in it falling on its behind. The first time it had happened he'd scooped the child up in a panic, and it had begun to cry. By the fifth time he'd noticed that Noctis didn't cry unless he reacted, and had actually not cried until he'd panicked the first time. Now, the sound of Noctis falling down was so common that Ignis didn't even notice it. At least Noctis didn't cry when he did it, and, unlike some people, the babe always got up again.

When he wasn't moving something out of Noctis' way, he was cooking or reading, and the child, like a cat, was always getting underfoot. More than once during the course of the week, Ignis had accidentally stepped on little fingers or toes, and that truly had made the child cry in pain. Ignis didn't know how to deal with that, and he was pretty sure it left Noctis in pain and Ignis in a sour mood.

None of these things were even close to being the most infuriating thing. No, that prize fell to meal times. If he was to keep the child in top condition for his potion making, then the child needed balanced nutrition. It was the simplest of logic, and Ignis had always been considered an excellent cook. He was a master at potions, after all, and really it all boiled down to the same thing, only one was cooking magic, and one was cooking food. No one had ever left him after a meal not feeling like they hadn't just been given a treat. Until now, that was.

With Noctis, almost every meal was a struggle. It was old enough for solid foods, but nothing too chewy, as its teeth were far from fully formed. It only made sense then, that Ignis feed it only a minimum of things like meat, and more stuck to vegetables and fruits, mostly cooked down or mashed of course.

Breakfast was the easiest meal, perhaps. Hot cereal with cinnamon and a cut up apple seemed to satisfy all the child's picky requirements, and the biggest problems were that the apple had to be peeled and holding a spoon correctly were well beyond its current motor skills. Yes, most of breakfast managed to get into its mouth. What didn't get into its mouth fell on the floor, which...wasn't ideal, but wasn't an large issue either.

Lunch and dinner were disasters. The only savory item the child deemed edible was potatoes, and no matter how Ignis tried to flavor or hide a vegetable it was found and immediately discarded. It would have been inconvenient enough if his creamed spinach or pureed carrots had been tossed to the floor, but no, any item the babe found undesirable was thrown directly at Ignis' face in objection.

On the third night, Ignis wondered if the child would choke to death if he forced it to eat his food. On the fifth he actually sat the child in his largest cauldron, and wondered, for neither the first time or the last, if it would be easier to just owe Prompto another firstborn. Inside the cauldron, Noctis laughed at the echoing sounds, completely unaware of the danger it was in. Luckily for it, Ignis eventually took it out and put it to bed. Tomorrow was Shiva-Tide, and then Prompto could deal with this daemon for a week.

At least Aulea had been right: Noctis slept through the night without waking once. Ignis was quite sure he really would have killed it if he'd been sleep deprived on top of everything else.

Prompto arrived to collect the babe early in the morning, which was both a relief and a disappointment. After all, Prompto seemed like the forgetful type, and if he'd forgotten to come get it, the child would have been forfeit the moment the sun rose the next morning. Still, it was certainly a relief to know that he would not have to worry about babies underfoot or mashed peas being hurled at his face for the next week.

"Man, you look like shit," was Prompto's greeting when he opened the door for him.

"Your kind words warm my soul."

"I'm just saying! Have you been having problems with Noctis?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite," he knew a strategic move when he saw one, and there was no way he was going to allow Prompto to manipulate him into handing the child over permanently. Even if he did need help, (which he very much did not!) the babe's other claimer was the very last person on the face of the planet that he would ask.

"...Okay." Prompto didn't sound at all convinced, but he didn't press the issue, and that was that.

Ignis found the baby trying to grab a bottle of dried salamander tails, and snatched it up just before its dirty little fingers managed to grab hold. "Here," he dumped it unceremoniously into Prompto's arms. "It's true that it sleeps through the night, but you're going to want to make sure it can't grab onto anything important. Also, it knows how to climb chairs."

"That sounds about right," Prompto said with that infuriatingly ceaseless smile. "Don't worry, I got this."

"Of course you do." That was what Ignis had thought too, before he'd actually settled in to take care of it. Surely Prompto would run promptly run into many of the similar problems. If not more. The thought that Prompto would also suffer for this mishap was some small measure of relief.

Prompto bounced the child in his arms, and then he arranged it so that he held it with one arm before picking up a tiny hand and making it wave. Ignis supposed the motion was supposed to be cute. "Say bye-bye, Noctis!"

"Ba-Ba!"

That. Was the first time the child had said anything even close to comprehensible. The fact that it had done it for Prompto on command was terribly annoying.

"I'll see you next week."

"That you will."

"Have a good day!"

"You too," the polite words were all but spat, and then he shut the door behind Prompto.

Ignis sighed. He only had a week, and he knew he had a lot of work to do.

The child had been a great distraction from his wishes and barters, and so his time was divided between catching up on several potions, as well as reorganizing what felt like his entire house so that everything was both easily accessible, yet out of reach for Noctis when it returned. Both activities were time consuming and stressful, and by the time someone knocked on the door midweek, Ignis was about ready to strangle whoever was on the other side.

When he opened the door the person he found was Camelia Claustra, and suddenly Ignis very much wanted to strangle Prompto instead.

"Good afternoon, Madam Claustra."

Her face was as severe as it always was, but Ignis could see just the glimmer of a smile behind those hard lips. "There you are, Ignis. I was starting to think you'd gone deaf. I've been knocking for five minutes."

Ignis felt like he'd just swallowed his own tongue. Had he really? "I assure you, I did not mean--"

She held up one hand, and Ignis fell silent. "It's all right. I just dropped by to see how the potion development is going."

Yes, Ignis had known that had to be why she was here. It wasn't like she didn't have a thousand more important things to deal with in their town than to simply drop by on one witch who really never needed much from the council. Of course she dropped by to check in on his very important project. Of course he had to say, "Right now, it isn't going at all."

"Oh?" Eyebrows shot up into wispy bangs in surprise. "I thought you said you were going to be able to acquire your final ingredient last week."

"I...did. There was a complication."

"And what might that be?"

Ignis opened his mouth and found it hard to speak. The truth was he hadn't told anyone else about the dual claim they had on the babe. He hadn't even said it aloud to anyone other than Prompto. He opened his mouth now and found that it was somehow humiliating, as though he'd made a mistake. Ignis did not take mistakes well. "Two of us have a proper claim to the ingredient."

"How odd."

"Indeed."

"I do hope you get it sorted out quickly. Your work is very important, Ignis."

"I know." He did, he knew. He knew how much this potion might help people. He knew how important it was. It was part of why he lived here, away from the towns that were too close to human cities where mass town raids might kill him or burn his research. He'd chosen this place very carefully, not close to cities but not too far away from towns where there might be things he'd need. Like firstborns. "I will absolutely keep you apprised as to changes in my predicament."

"I trust that you will. Good day, Ignis."

"Good day, Madam Claustra." He shut the door, happy that the shaking in his arms didn't betray him and cause it to slam. He was angry, but not at Camelia Claustra. She was the one who had encouraged him to pursue this goal, this idea of a life changing potion. She was invested in it, of course she wanted to know how it was going. He was angry, perhaps irrationally, at Prompto, for being the cause of what kept him from using his firstborn. He knew that if what he'd heard that day was correct that without Prompto's interference, neither one of them would have a child to argue over, but it didn't really matter to his emotions. Look at what this incident had done! He'd had to put his work on hold, and practically rearrange his entire home! He'd lived here for nearly twenty years now, and it looked completely different. Because of a baby. That he had to share.

His only solace was that he knew Prompto was surely going through something similar at this very moment.

By Shiva-Tide, his frustration had only grown. He was now caught up with all his work. The Wishing Tree currently held no wishes that called to him. He had a book full of notes and a shelf full of ingredients he couldn't use, and his house scarcely felt like his own home. It felt like his entire life had been uprooted, and he had no choice but to follow behind the person who had done it. Needless to say, he woke up feeling rather miffed and three cups of his morning brew did nothing to help.

He waited until the sun was high enough in the sky that all the early morning colors had faded from it before he began to make his way down to where Prompto lived.

The Aurum-Argentum household was a bit removed from the rest of the village. The siblings had moved into the property only two years ago, and at the time the house had barely been more than a dilapidated shed. No one, themselves included, had expected them to stay for more than about six months. They'd had the smell of travelers on them, wind, rain, and nothing permanent other than each other. At about the time everyone had expected them to move on, they'd begun to build onto the shed, and announced they'd be staying in town, if no one objected.

At the time, no one had objected. They were friendly and personable, but also kept their noses out of other people's business unless asked. That was good for the town. More people to barter with, more people to turn to in times of need. No one had questioned why they wanted to stay, why would they? It had seemed simple enough, they'd found a town they'd liked, and had decided to settle down. Ignis now realized that the real reason was probably that Prompto had made the deal with Regis for his firstborn, so they'd needed to stay nearby. Now, eighteen months too late, Ignis very much objected.

At least, Ignis supposed, he didn't have to walk by their house every time he needed meat from the butcher or newt's eye from the apothecary. It was a bit of a walk, but it hadn't grown cold yet, and the day was clear. Perhaps the walk would even help his mood. After all, their house was so far out it was practically in the woods, a little time among the changing leaves would probably do him some good.

It turned out to be true, by the time the house came into view his mood was a little lighter. He was also surprised. It had changed since he'd last seen it. He knew they'd been building onto the small building they'd originally moved into, but it now seemed like construction had completely swallowed the original structure. What lay before him now wasn't pleasing architecturally, but it was at least five times bigger than the original hovel. It was impressive in a way that Ignis could somehow only describe as...he wouldn't have been surprised to learn that it was held together by magic itself. It wasn't even that it leaned, it was just...off - not quite angular or sturdy seeming. Still, when he knocked on the front door nothing budged or fell, and it wasn't long before Prompto opened the door with the babe in his arms.

"Morning!" He greeted jovially, "We've been expecting you, haven't we?" He poked the child's nose, and it giggled at him.

Prompto didn't look like someone who had been struggling to take care of a human baby for a week, in fact, it looked to him like Prompto was glowing. He seemed perfectly rested and not stressed out at all. That, combined with the babe's giggling washed away all the good the walk out here had done. "Any troubles with it?"

"Nope. Noctis has been a perfect little angel. Now haven't you? Yes you have!" He watched Prompto bounce the child in his arms, and its laughter echoed menacingly in Ignis' ears. All week he'd been thinking that the one good thing was that Prompto was suffering through this too, and as it turned out, Prompto very much hadn't been. It was very upsetting.

"He's already had breakfast." Ah yes, there was that gender pronoun again. Perhaps that was it - Prompto was treating it like it was going to be alive a year from now. "So he should be fine until lunch."

"Splendid."

"Okay! You're going to go live with Uncle Iggy for a little while now, understand?" Ignis could feel his very soul shudder at the moniker, but the child only grinned and grabbed at a lock of Prompto's hair in answer. Though it pulled harshly, Prompto didn't even seemed phased by it as he handed the child over to him. Was it just him? Or was this thing bigger than it had been last week? It certainly felt heavier in his arms.

"Oh! Hold on! One more thing!" Briefly, Prompto disappeared from the doorway, only to reappear with what looked like a key-ring, only instead of rings it had small, bent bars of metal. "He likes the sound of these when you shake them. It might help you!"

"My...thanks?" He took them from Prompto's grasp, not knowing how these could possibly help them, and also loathing the good natured grin on Prompto's face as he watched them.

"See you next week!"

The door was shut gently, and Ignis was left with nothing to do except go home with the child in his arms. As soon as they got back the edges of town proper the babe began to cry, and Ignis decided to take Prompto's advice. He sat the child on the ground and shook the ring of metal bars. It worked. It stopped crying, and instead smiled, wide eyes before it snatched the ring away from him with hands too strong for something of its size. Before Ignis could properly react, it began to shake the ring itself, and the full force of the metal bars and those too strong hands struck him in the mouth.

Ignis pried the ring away from Noctis before he took stock of the damage. His teeth hurt, but were intact. He could taste blood though, and that was bad enough.

Before him, the babe began to wail, and that was precisely the moment when Ignis decided that _somehow_ he was going to make sure Prompto Argentum felt as much frustration as Ignis felt right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're wondering, the ring of metals bars Prompto hands over is a set of Allen Wrenches, also known as Hex Keys, which I find very appropriate. They're not something Ignis has ever seen/used before, so he doesn't have a name for them. OTL


	3. In Which a Familiar Traveler Comes to Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY FRIDAY.
> 
> I just came back from a three day vacation to find out that I had to re-edit half my chapter because the save didn't take, so please excuse any mistakes my still-on-vacation brain may have left. <3

Sometimes, Ignis thought that the Wishing Tree was much like owning a cat. It could be useful, it could be pleasant, you had to take care of it, but there were also those times when it decided that it wanted attention at four in the morning and it refused to leave you alone until you got up and gave it what it wanted.

Right now was one of those last bits. Ignis had tried to ignore the Call of a wish for nearly an hour before he'd begun to feel like he was being driven mad, and at that point he had gotten up, dressed, made sure the child was still sound asleep, and had slipped out the door. The leaves on the trees were still mostly green, but the night air was already turning nippy. It wasn't cold enough for him to see his breath yet, but Ignis knew that it was only a matter of weeks, if not days, before it would. He'd already considered it early autumn weeks ago, when they'd gotten the babe, though some might have still considered it late summer. The Harvest Festival was only a couple weeks away now, and then the weather would truly start to go downhill.

Ignis mostly didn't mind winter, it could be beautiful, and witch burnings were rarer, since humans didn't want to leave their homes anymore than he did once it began to snow. Aside from shopping, the Wishing Tree would mostly be what would drag Ignis out in the cold. It didn't care what time of year it was, it offered their town its best protection from malicious forces, and in return it fully expected its call to be heeded at all times, day or night, summer or winter. It was, of course, a fair trade that all protected witch towns had with their Wishing Tree, but that didn't stop Ignis was being irritated at being Called before the sun had even begun to show signs of rising in the sky.

At least it wasn't windy. He might have been tempted to use magic to get there and back if it had been.

The Wishing Tree's sparkling fruit came into view before he'd gotten so far out that he needed a light. Standing beneath the Wishing Tree when it was still full dark out was quite beautiful, Ignis would admit. It was almost as beautiful as sitting under the stars on a clear night, but he wasn't here to stare. The fruit that was Calling him was higher up in the tree, and Ignis was forced to climb. Climbing was awkward, but not difficult, and soon enough Ignis found himself face to face with the twinkling fruit that had dragged him out of bed before even he wanted to be up. He plucked it. It screamed into his head.

_"BURNING. BURNING. ALL OF IT. BURNING!"_

Ignis nearly dropped it. The sound was unpleasant, the voice was distorted and it was not even remotely recognizable. In his hands, the fruit's twinkle had faded and it sat as black as the night around them. It wasn't a ripe wish, and that meant at some point in the future it would ripen on his bedside table, probably in the middle of the night again, and it would be urgent.

Wonderful. Just what he needed, an unripe wish that sounded as unhinged as they came. He would have to deal with this later. The wish fruit was stuck in a pocket of his cloak, and Ignis began the climb down, opting to let gravity do the work when he was close enough to be sure that the drop wouldn't cause him harm. His feet hit the ground with a solid thump, and Ignis felt in his bones it was time to go back home and sleep for another couple hours.

"Fuck!"

For a split second the sound of someone else was alarming, but then, past the racing of his heart, Ignis grinned. "Did I startle you, Gladio?"

"Yeah! You did!"

Ignis laughed, and it felt good. How long had it been since he'd actually laughed? Too long, probably since this whole debacle with Noctis had started. "In all fairness, I did not expect you to be here either." Perhaps he should have. It _was_ Titan-Tide, and for the last couple of weeks it had been Iris who had shown up with her crystals, metals, and city contraband. They were overdue for Gladio and his moss, mushrooms, and woodsy wares. Still. "It's a bit early, isn't it?"

Gladio shrugged as he seemed to step out of the shadows and into the soft twinkle light of the tree. "It's gonna rain. Wanted to get here earlier than usual. Not a crime, is it?"

Rain? Ignis looked up at the setting moon and the stars he could just barely see through the forest's canopy. "Are you sure? It's cloudless and clear."

"Iggy?" Gladio paused. "It's gonna rain. Storm even."

"Yes, yes. All right. Far be it from me to argue with your nose." Ignis waved him off with one hand. He supposed he shouldn't have tried to argue against it. If one of the Amicitia siblings said it was going to rain, well, it was going to rain, and that was that. It was pointless to try and argue with either of them, not just because they were both stubborn, but because they were always right about things like weather. Why? No one knew. A weather witch might predict weather with a crystal ball or a potion, and they might even change it to be suitable, but that wasn't what Iris and Gladio did. No, they just _knew_ , like the freakish beings they were. "I suppose that means I should get my shopping out of the way early then."

"I would suggest it, yeah. Get your stuff and batten down the hatches. It's not going to be a light drizzle."

"Good to know. I still don't suppose you're going to share how you do it?"

"Nothing to share. It's just what I am."

"Hm." What they were, which, honestly, no one knew either, not even them, if Gladio was to be believed. Half human for certain, despicable as it was, but...no one was sure what that other half was. Not witch, it was clear that the Amicitias had skills that employed magic, but it wasn't anything they learned like a witch did. Everything they did came as naturally to them as breathing. Ignis knew it left them sort of ostracized on both ends. Too Other to live with humans. Too human to live in witch towns. Here, and in the other towns Ignis knew they frequented, they had worked themselves out a niche of sorts, supplying things that were normally difficult or time consuming to get. Another one of their innate skills Ignis wouldn't mind getting his hands on. "You'll tell me if you ever figure it out, yes?"

Gladio laughed heartily, and clapped him on the shoulder. The blow was meant to be friendly, but Ignis felt his knees almost buckle under its strength. "You'll be the first to know. Promise. Walk to town with me?"

Ignis nodded. "Just to town though. I need to get back before Noctis wakes."

"Oh. _Noctis_. Have you finally found your _One_ in my absence?"

Ignis rolled his eyes, dramatically enough that he hoped Gladio saw it. Judging by the amused chortle, he had. "Naturally not. Noctis is the firstborn for my research potion."

"And he's still alive?"

"Unfortunately," Ignis grumbled.

"Might I ask why?"

"I have to share."

That got Gladio to laugh loudly enough that Ignis was surprised the whole town hadn't instantly woken up to it. "You don't strike me as someone who shares well."

"I'm not."

"Tell me the story?"

Ignis did, in the briefest of ways. He told him about the deal made with Aulea four years beforehand, and showing up on the babe's first nameday, only to find that Prompto had also made a deal with Regis. He told him about the Vow. He did not share how frustrating it was to deal with the child, or how he had made a silent vendetta against Prompto.

"Well, that sucks, for both of you."

"Indeed. I don't suppose you have any idea where I might find another firstborn?"

Gladio shook his head. "That'd be more Iris' area, and you know she wouldn't do it anyway."

Ignis sighed. Of course not. Rejected by humans they might be, but they did still have human blood in their veins. It surely gave them a certain...bias that most witches didn't have. "Back to the drawing board, I suppose."

"You'll figure out something. You're smart."

"Thank you." He looked up at Gladio's face, and even in the dim town lighting he could see his grin. Ignis smiled in return. He knew it was just part of Gladio's charm. Both Amicitias got on with nearly anyone they met, but it was still...nice, perhaps because Ignis was the opposite. It was nice to feel like you connected with people on occasion, even on the most shallow of levels. "I appreciate your encouragement."

"Hey, I've seen some of your work. I know what you can do."

"Still."

Gladio shrugged it off again, and then nodded his head off in the direction of Ignis' house. "I'll let you get back to your babe. Will I see you later? After I've set up shop?"

Ignis nodded. "You always have a thing or two I need more of." Ignis didn't add that some of the things he was sure to be buying today were more because Noctis had gotten a hold of them and lost or tainted them rather than he'd used them up. Gladio didn't need to know that.

"I'll look forward to it."

It was a little surprising how sincere he was when Ignis said, "Me as well," in return.

Back at his house Noctis was still asleep. Jealous as he knew he'd be of the babe's well rested state later, Ignis didn't bother to get back into bed. The sun would be up soon enough, and Gladio had made it sound like a storm was coming. He climbed into his shower, telling himself he'd get to bed earlier, but he already knew it was an empty promise to himself. With some of his rarer herbs restored, he'd most likely be up late into the night working on this and that. It was just how he was.

After his shower, Noctis was awake, and definitely ready to start its day. The babe got a bath of its own before its oatmeal and apple, and then it was time to head out to do his shopping. The problem was he couldn't leave the child here. It was awake now, and that meant leaving it in its bed wasn't an option, and leaving it to wander the house was likely to result in it figuring out how to climb up his shelves and destroying everything it touched. That meant the only option was to take Noctis with him, but how? He couldn't carry the child in his arms the whole time, it was getting too big just to carry it around the house from time to time, nevermind the idea of carrying it on his hip through the entire market and shop system. It couldn't properly walk on its own, and even if it could, Ignis would certainly lose track of it the moment it saw something even slightly interesting, like a squirrel.

Eventually, Ignis was forced to make a carry on that involved a long strip of cloth and an old bag to strap the child to his back. Ignis wouldn't call it pleasant, but the child seemed happy enough. It was workable. Out they went.

He went to all the permanent shops first, buying his heavier staples and dropping them off back at home before he made his way to the town center, where all the people who didn't want or have permanent shops set up on Titan-Tide. A lot of it was craft goods, older witches trying to sell their enchanted knitting, or the witches braver than those in town who braved living outside of the Wishing Tree's protection to grow crops. Some witches sold baking or home remedies that weren't quite potion-craft. Ignis knew that he would browse all of the other shops. He would probably even buy some of the produce from the outlying farms, but truly the only shop that was worth his, or almost anyone's time this week or any week, was the Amicitia's station. It didn't matter whether it was Iris or Gladio, they always had something for everyone. They were truly blessed to have them. If they didn't, they'd be forced to find such ingredients themselves, and more of them would be caught and killed. Ignis wondered if they knew that. They probably did.

He bartered over zucchinis, bought perhaps too much corn, asked about pumpkins, and bought a piece of thimbleberry pie before he actually made his way toward Gladio's area, only to stop short at what he saw there. What he saw was Prompto. Oh, not that it bothered him to see him there. No, of course not. Everyone bought from the Amicitias, it would be foolish of him to think Prompto didn't buy from them. No no, what made Ignis stop was the body language.

Gladio's body language was normal for him. He always skirted the line of flirtatious, it was simply his way, and for Prompto he acted no different, a smile on his face, a laugh always just a word away. It was Prompto's body language that was odd. He was hunched over nervously, his face flushed a color that was approaching the color of a beet. His hands hovered near his mouth, nails doubtlessly a second away from being gnawed on. Even his eyes screamed the truth, one moment they were on Gladio's face, the next they roamed down his body, and then hastily toward the ground, only to start the cycle again. In fact, the only thing Ignis thought Prompto wasn't doing was actually drooling.

Ignis could have laughed. How disgustingly adorable. Prompto had a _crush_. For Ignis, it confirmed something he'd always thought about Prompto; Prompto was a young witch. He was certainly under fifty, to have a crush like that. Human lives were fleeting, they said, so they loved often and passionately. They loved for true very rarely, and usually not until their youth was gone, if then. Witches were much the same, in their long lived way. Every witch grew up being told they would love truly only once, but they would mistake hormones for love often, before they truly matured. Young witches looked for their One around every corner. An older witch would sleep with what they liked, but never get so attached so quickly. Some witches even said their One wasn't a romantic love at all, their child if they managed to have one.

There was a certain amount of joy in realizing that Prompto was a young witch with a crush. There was a certain amount of evil delight in realizing he could use that to achieve a goal he'd set for himself almost a week ago. It wasn't nice, and Ignis knew it, but then he wasn't a nice person. It was time for Prompto to learn a lesson or two about life.

Ignis lingered not close enough to hear what they were talking about, but close enough that when their conversation was finished and Prompto turned around Ignis was the first thing that he saw. If possible, his face flushed an even deeper color, and Ignis couldn't help but notice how they made his freckles stand out. He wasn't sure if it was an attractive trait or not. "He-Hey, Ignis."

"Good morning, Prompto."

There was an awkward moment where Ignis could see Prompto trying to figure out whether or not Ignis was going to say something else. When he didn't, he shifted between his feet and said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes. Bright and early, I'm quite sure."

"Okay. Bye?"

"Goodbye." Prompto ran off faster than a rabbit ran from a fox. Ignis turned his attention to Gladio.

"What is his problem?"

Ignis laughed. Was Gladio that oblivious to Prompto's little crush? Truly? "I'll tell you when you're older."

Gladio snorted. "Asshole."

"I won't deny it."

They got down to business then. Ignis ended up selecting ten ingredients to buy, including mushrooms he suspected would be more useful in a meal than in any potion, and a glowing moss he'd ever seen before and simply couldn't wait to experiment with. He counted out his coins and made to hand them over, only to pull his hand back when Gladio held out his hand hand to receive them. "One more thing, Gladio."

"Yeah?"

"I would like for you to come over this evening."

"To your place?"

"Yes. It's going to storm, isn't it? You'll need shelter for the night. I'll make us dinner. I'll put Noctis to bed early. It'll be nice."

"You know what I normally do with those I stay with?"

"Yes. I'm not deaf. I'm sure I've heard all the rumors." He had. The most grandiose of them being that Gladio was truly attempting to have sex with every person in every town he frequented. Ignis was quite certain that wasn't true. From what he himself had seen, Gladio never spent the night with anyone already attached, he'd never broken up any relationships, and he didn't sleep with council-people. He had rules, Ignis was fairly certain. Ignis could deal with rules. "I don't mind them. Do you?"

"No. Just." Gladio huffed. "I like you, Iggy. I consider us friends."

The words were surprising to Ignis. He considered himself skilled, useful, sought after. He did not consider himself liked. He was not "likable," and he'd never tried to be. He never did anything seeking to be liked, or seeking friendship. It was different. He didn't dislike the notion that he'd gained it without trying. In fact, it was attractive. However, "Is that a no then?"

"No," Gladio said quickly. "But, I don't want you to think the wrong thing. We're not gonna be a thing. It won't be exclusive. It might even only be once. Basically, I'm not gonna be your One."

Ignis snorted. "Well good, because I'm not asking for that. I asking you to be my One...tonight. While it pours outside, and a child I don't want kept alive sleeps in another room. Is it so odd that I'm seeking a little bit of pleasure in what's been a hard month for me? I could ask someone else, but...I like you too." It wasn't a lie, though he found that it was hard to say. He...did like Gladio. They got along, despite his bloodline and Ignis' distaste of it. They got along, and that wasn't something Ignis could say about just anyone. "I'm not asking for commitment. I'm asking for mutually beneficial companionship tonight."

"In other words, you have an ulterior motive."

Ignis smiled. He was so suspicious. It was probably part of why he was still alive. Ignis had to admit, not suspicious Others didn't last long. "Perhaps. Probably. Yes even. It would be nothing harmful to you, I assure you. So? Yes? No?"

"Yeah," Gladio said at last. "I'd love to spent the night with you."

"Splendid." He held out his hand again, and dropped his coins into Gladio's waiting palm. "Come by once the rain starts. I'll be waiting." He went to gather his purchases, only to be stopped by Gladio's hand around his wrist.

"Leave 'em," Gladio told him. "I'll just bring them when I get to your house." Gladio lifted Ignis hand up then and leaned forward just a little bit to place a kiss atop his hand. It was a motion far too romantic for the reality of what they'd just been discussing. Still. Despite himself, it made Ignis' heart speed a bit in his chest. ...Perhaps he'd been celibate a little too long. "I'll see you later, Iggy."

"Yes. Later." Gladio released his hand, and Ignis left then. He had a dinner to cook now, and unexpected nerves he had to settle.


	4. In Which Things Seem Very Domestic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY FRIDAY.
> 
> So, since I keep getting comments about my world building (in a nice way, thank you all.) I'm going to put "notes" about the world at the end of chapters, when something comes to mind. This week will be on the subject of "witches and humans" in this world.
> 
> If you want to read it, go for it, if not, also great. Any questions on that subject after you read the notes? Feel free to ask! 
> 
> Enjoy! <3

It perhaps shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as it was to see how good Gladio was with Noctis. After all, when Ignis thought back on it, Iris had still practically been a babe on Gladio's hip when he'd first started showing up in town. He tried to remember if anyone had thought Iris was his daughter, rather than his sister back then, but Ignis was fairly certain the answer was no. Gladio himself hadn't been the hulking man he was now, then. Too young to be a father. Not too young to get stubborn and angry at anyone who tried to take them in as their own so they'd settle their roots.

 _"We'll choose our own family!"_ He remembered the words being screamed in passing. _"When we want to choose it!"_

How long ago had that been? Ignis tried to remember. Almost two decades now, it had to have been. It couldn't have been long after he'd moved here. It somehow seemed like so much longer. Sometimes it felt like Ignis had lived his whole life here, in this small town, yet, the truth was he'd barely spent a quarter of it here, never quite settling his own roots properly.

"It seems to like you."

Gladio grinned up at him, as the babe's giggles assaulted his ears. "Yeah, he's a cute kid, Iggy." Ah. So Gladio was going to apply a gender pronoun as well. Ignis supposed that only made sense, really. Gladio did share half a bloodline with it. He decided he wouldn't try to correct him. "You sure you don't want to just keep him?"

"Heaven's no," Ignis rolled his eyes, and Gladio laughed at him, easily drowning out the babe's giggling. "It's destructive enough on a part time basis, and imagine what it would grow up to be."

"What? A human being?"

"Yes."

"I know, almost all Others have a little reason to hate humans, Iggy, but gods above, what did they do to _you_?"

Ignis considered a sign of his slowly healing heart that there was only a moment where he was taken back to that time when he heard his uncle's whisper in his ear, begging him to not look on at the burning of his parents. Unfortunately, his uncle could not prevent him from hearing their screams. For years there wasn't a potion in the world that could make him sleep without hearing it. He knew. He'd watched his uncle brew countless attempts. "It was. Truly unforgivable," he managed at last. This town knew a minimum of such suffering, their Wishing Tree was big and strong, and mostly only stragglers after dark were caught. They were useful here. The bigger the towns, the less safe it was. The less useful they were to them. Ignis knew it all too well. "I. Try to not hold it against you."

"I know. I've noticed," Gladio said softly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's all right. You...loved your human mother."

"Yeah."

"So you have a bias of your own."

"...Yeah. Guess I do."

"At any rate," Ignis said, desperate to steer the conversation off the depressing track it was on. "Supper is almost ready. I thought you might want to put it down."

"Aww, I thought I might feed him. It's been a long time since I've held a kid."

"Hm." Ignis chewed on his cheek for a moment. "You're welcome to try."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Certainly not from me. Noctis sets the bar just that much higher every night."

Gladio looked down at the child, who obediently looked back up at him in question. "Challenge accepted, kid."

Ignis smiled genuinely at the scene before him. It almost seemed like a normal family scene. Almost, except there was too much awareness of the fact that this was not his child, and this was not his One, and he was not a sentimental man. The moment was an illusion. It wouldn't do to indulge it.

Outside, the lightning flashed and thunder boomed for the first time. Then the sound of harsh rain reached his ears as it began to pour over the whole town. "You truly weren't kidding about it not being a light drizzle."

"Harvest Festival might be a couple weeks away yet, but the leaves have already started to change. The weather's following suit." Noctis squirmed as Gladio put it in its seat, but it didn't cry, and Gladio seemed not bothered by the resistance.

"That means that soon the cold will follow."

"Yeah," Gladio straightened up. "The morning frost will be here within the month, but snow's a ways away yet."

"You're an almanac all onto yourself."

"I'd make a mint, if I wrote it all down," Gladio teased, that brilliant grin on his face. "Do you need any help with the food?"

"No, you just wait, and plan your battle with that thing." Ignis nodded his head at Noctis before he returned to his stove-top, pulling the rice off the heat before he pulled the pot of stew off the fireplace. The child was getting a plate of cooked fruits, vegetables, a couple small pieces of cheese, and some of the rice. The curry itself would certainly be too much for a baby's stomach. He also hoped that perhaps something like that might at least prevent Gladio was meeting the fate of mashed whatever it was he'd made all over his face.

"Ours will be ready in a moment," he said when he offered the child's plate to Gladio.

"No problem."

When he returned but a minute later with their own plates, he came in on the beginning of a moment Ignis thought he might remember for the rest of his life. "Here comes the broomstick!" Gladio was holding a spoonful of rice and moving it around wildly like an inexperienced witch might fly before moving it directly for Noctis' mouth. To his surprise, Noctis opened up its mouth and let the "broom" fly right on in, before it took the food and began to chew.

Ignis couldn't help but laugh, "I can't believe that worked!"

"What? You've never tried that?"

"Why would I even think of it?"

Gladio stared at him for a second, one eyebrow raised. "Have you...never been around kids before, Iggy?"

"Not for an extended period of time, no."

"Let me tell you something then. Just. It might make it easier."

"I'm listening."

"Make it fun. They'll respond to something that's fun more than something that's not. I mean, "here comes the broomstick" doesn't always work, but it never hurts."

Ignis glanced over at the babe, who had swallowed the mouthful of rice and was banging its little hands on the table for more. "Clearly."

The rest of dinner had a nice soft edge to it, even as the thunder roared outside. Noctis seemed wholly unaffected by the sounds outside, and actually ate all its rice and fruits, though, Gladio did have dodge the peas that were thrown at him. As to their own meal, Gladio liked it, and even asked what was in it. Ignis normally enjoyed his silence, but there was something pleasing and warming about having Gladio there to talk to, to share his meal with. Even the child with its little grabby hands and cooing noises contributed to the ambiance.

They stayed there at the table long after their plates were empty and the fire had almost burned down to glowing embers. Next to Gladio, Noctis yawned for the third time, and in the fading light, Ignis saw him smile fondly at it. "Can I put him to bed?"

"Getting attached, are you?"

"It's..." His voice faltered a little, before Gladio finally settled on. "Nostalgic."

"Then I won't try to stop you. Its bed is in the study."

"What?" Gladio teased. "No nursery?"

"It's lucky it has a bed at all. Now off with you."

"Yeah, yeah," Gladio mumbled, moving to get up. Ignis followed, only to gather dishes instead of gathering a child in his arms.

While Gladio went through whatever routine he was used to with children Ignis put the dishes in the sink to soak and put more wood on the fire. He couldn't let it go out yet, the potion that simmered above it wouldn't be ready for at least another three hours. It had probably not been a good idea to let it get so low this early, but...it would probably be fine after this, if he just let it peter out after these logs burned out. Then it would have to age. Waiting for it to age was always the worst part--

"Oh." The sound reflected the simple surprise that filled him as arms slid around his waist, and a warmth pressed against his back. Ignis smiled. "Hello." He blindly reached up and his fingers found stubble, almost ready to become a short beard. Gladio leaned into his touch. Ignis' heart hammered in his chest.

"Hi."

"I didn't hear you return."

Gladio's laugh was soft, yet loud in his ear. He could feel its vibrations on his skin. "You weren't supposed to."

"Sneak," Ignis accused.

"Uh huh." Lips pressed against Ignis' neck, and he couldn't help it; he gasped. "Iggy. We don't have to--"

"None of that," Ignis hissed. He didn't move, his hand stayed where it had strayed, almost up into Gladio's hair. His eyes were trained on the fire that was steadily growing underneath the potion again. "We had a nice evening, didn't we?" Perhaps there had been a bump in the beginning, when they'd stumbled over opinions and experiences, but the rest of it...Well, Ignis felt warm and satiated in a way he hadn't since before he'd moved away from his uncle.

"I thought so. Real nice."

"Then we're agreed about that. I think we should head to my bedroom, and have a very nice end to our evening too. If you'd also like that."

The arms around his waist tightened just enough that Ignis could fully feel Gladio's physique against his back. "I'd like that a lot, Iggy."

He had to squirm a little, to be able to turn his head around enough to get at Gladio's lips, but when he did, he found them softer than expected, not cracked or chapped, and they were equally happy to kiss him back. When he pulled away, just a little, he found his nose filled with the scent of earth after rain. Not the usual scent of a traveler. It was better than that. "Then let's."

When he woke in the morning, it was a small surprise to find Gladio still there. A part of him had truly expected Gladio to slip out before the sun rose, but no. He woke up, heavy, warm and sated, with Gladio behind him. It was the slow kind of waking, the sort where he drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, but didn't dream. It was different and pleasant. His morning mind idly thought that he'd like to wake up like this every morning, feeling so secure and so well rested. He couldn't remember when he hadn't woken up in a rush to start his day. It had to have been years. Perhaps, he thought selfishly, perhaps he should let himself do this more often. Indulge in pleasure and leisure. It was too selfish of a thought. He'd dedicated his life to his work. He'd dedicated himself to helping people, even humans, with his research as much as he could. He couldn't just spend every morning laying in bed with a lover.

Behind him, he heard Gladio breathe in deeply, and the arm that held him down squeezed him just a little bit tighter. "Morning."

"Good morning."

There was no knowing what Ignis had expected Gladio to say. Perhaps he'd expected nothing much at all, but what he hadn't expected was what he got. "Do you need me out now?"

"What?" He shifted, only minimally because of the weight of Gladio's arm, but, "No. You can stay as long as you--Gods above." Ignis pushed one hand against his face. "Is that what normally happens? You stay the night and they kick you out before breakfast?"

"Hm. Normally. They've got lives. I'm not a part of them. I understand that."

"Well!" Ignis huffed. "I am not, as you would say, an asshole."

"Yeah," Gladio chuckled. "Yeah you are."

"Not like this I'm not!" He protested as he finally managed to turn himself around so that they were face to face. "You can stay as long as you like, Gladio." He was kissed then, and one arm around him became two holding him tightly against Gladio. One kiss turned into many, before Ignis brain caught up with him and he pushed lightly at Gladio's chest to separate them. "You can stay," he said again, "But we do need to get up. Prompto will soon be here for the babe."

Gladio laughed against his shoulder. "I do suppose you'd wanna to be dressed for that."

"Yes. I rather do."

Gladio again offered to take care of Noctis. Ignis found it odd, how he truly seemed to enjoy caring for this child. He smiled and treated it gently, doing his best to make it smile and laugh. Was this what normal people were like? Ignis wondered as he leaned against the doorframe of his study, watching. Was this what a normal family might be like? Loving a child and wanting it to be happy? He didn't know. He couldn't even remember what his own parents had really been like. Their deaths overshadowed everything else he might vividly remember.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

"Whatever. You're amazing, so I'm sure it'll taste amazing."

Ignis smiled, feeling a flutter in his stomach that he didn't know what to do with. Pancakes, he decided. It was extra effort, but Gladio had earned it.

The batter was almost finished and the griddle was almost hot when there was a knock at the door. "Would you get that?" Ignis asked, sparing just a moment's glance over his shoulder to the table where Gladio was entertaining Noctis. "It should be Prompto."

"Sure." Ignis heard the push of the chair as Gladio got up, and then the creak of the door as it opened. "Hey there."

"Gladio?! Wh-what are you doing here?!" Prompto's voice was high and squeaky, and all at once Ignis remembered that the initial reason he'd really invited Gladio over the day before was for this reaction, to frustrate Prompto as Ignis had been frustrated by this whole situation. In the wake of how pleasant it actually had been, he'd practically forgotten the invitation's original purpose.

Ignis left the batter abandoned and scooped Noctis up into his arms, just in time to hear Gladio say, "Iggy let me stay last night through the storm."

"That's not a problem, is it?" Ignis asked as he came up behind him, and Gladio moved aside just enough so that they could share the doorway.

"No-no. Of course not." Though he stuttered a little bit, his voice didn't sound angry. Instead, what it did hold was a twinge of upsetness that betrayed his true emotions, and Ignis certainly counted that as a victory. "It was just a surprise, that's all."

" 'S okay. I wasn't expecting an invitation from him either." The red on Prompto's cheeks, and the way his eyes wouldn't leave the ground was delightful, and fulfilled all of Ignis' wishes, minus him just handing the child over, of course. That was enough, he thought. Prompto already had plenty to think about.

"At any rate, here's the child." He hoisted Noctis over, and Prompto held onto it like it was the only thing anchoring him in this world. "I'll see you next week."

"Yeah...yeah, I'll see you."

Gladio waved Prompto off in his friendly way, and then closed the door and Ignis stepped back. "That. That was your ulterior motive, wasn't it? Seeing him get upset over seeing me here."

"I won't deny that it was the driving force behind my request, but as I said, nothing that harmed you. Correct?"

"Yeah," Gladio agreed, even as Ignis watched him shaking his head a little. "If he wanted me over, he should have asked himself."

"Maybe next time, he will."

"I doubt it." Gladio paused. "You're an asshole, Ignis Scientia."

Ignis laughed, indeed feeling quite evil as he smiled. "I thought this was already an established fact between us."

"It was, but I hadn't realized how deep it ran." There was a stretch of silence long enough for Ignis to back to the stove before Gladio asked. "Are you done with me now?"

"Hm?"

"Now that you've succeeded in upsetting Prompto, do you want me to leave?"

Ah. Ignis paused, and he shook his head. "I think I already said that I'm not the kind of asshole to kick you out after we've just had a tryst."

"But that was before Prompto saw me, and accomplished your goal."

"Gladio," Ignis sighed, turning away from the stove yet again to stand directly in front of Gladio. It was always a little awkward, to look up directly in the eyes of a man who was taller than him, but Ignis wouldn't let that intimidate him. "Yes, I used you. As you used me to get out of the storm. As you use others for shelter and pleasure. I used you. I would do it again. That does not mean I didn't genuinely enjoy our evening. It does not mean I didn't like it, or you, and it does not mean I didn't mean what I said. I will not kick you out like you're nothing but a toy. I will not keep you here, but if you want to stay...I would be happy with that. I truly have enjoyed your presence in my house." He let there be a second for that to sink in, and then he asked. "Do you want to go now? I won't be angry." He wouldn't. Some people couldn't face the idea of being used, even though everyone used everyone for something. If he left, he would be back in town soon enough, and after simmering down they could talk it through and move on. He would be a bit disappointed, yes, but not angry.

A rather large part of him had expected Gladio to grab his bag, pull on his boots, and go. It would be a lie to say that Ignis wasn't both delighted and relieved when Gladio smiled down at him and said, "I suppose you did offer me breakfast, didn't you?"

"See?" Ignis teased. "Now you're using me for food."

"I might want to use you for something else after too," Gladio said as Ignis turned away.

Ignis knew he shouldn't say yes. He'd spent too long already being idle. He had a potion to bottle and others to start. He had things to do, and Gladio surely had places to be. Waking up not even an hour ago, happy and warm, already felt like a lifetime ago. What was one day of being idle, in pursuit of a peace and pleasure he'd forgotten he even liked to seek? It wasn't like this was going to last forever. Gladio was never going to be his One, and he knew Gladio would soon be off to another town and end up in someone else's bed. This was temporary. He should enjoy it while Gladio was here.

He glanced back over his shoulder, and seeing Gladio's mischievous grin made him smile in return. "It's not being used if it's mutually beneficial, is it?"

Gladio stepped closer, close enough to run the backs of his fingers down Ignis' arm so lightly that the shiver that followed was involuntary. "I guess that depends. Is it? Mutually beneficial?"

Ignis huffed out a laugh, as he reached out to pull Gladio down to his lips, "Yes, I think it would be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WITCHES AND HUMANS:
> 
> According to legend, humans and witches used to be one and the same. They split apart when, depending on which side of it you read, they discovered the true/false gods of the Others, who promised them power and longevity for their devotion. The reality is that witches are burned not simply they are witches, but because they are "heretics" and humans use the fire to purify their souls and send them off to heaven.
> 
> There is a law in most lands that forbids witch hunting before dark, and this is partially because humans find witches useful. They have medicines, skills, and devices that humans don't. The other parts are that it is said that one cannot truly tell a witch from a human until the sun sets, and, quite simply, that the hobby of witch hunting was overtaking the lives of a great many people. There was a decade in which things were quite terrible all around, and something had to be done. Enforcing the law saw a turn for the better.
> 
> Witches live alone or in small towns. Their numbers are not strong enough for cities. Even if they did have the numbers, while there is a certain amount of safety in numbers, a city would attract too much attention. Not all witch towns are protected by Wishing Trees, but the ones that are last longer and are in general safer, both to human and witch alike. Witch towns are usually tight knit communities, and most witches abhor travel. They prefer to settle their roots, and in general, those who do travel are not to be trusted. They are often thought to be oathbreakers.
> 
> Physically the only true physical difference between a witch and a human is that witches are born with a mark that is clearly not a natural birthmark. Every witch's mark is unique to them, and often, though not always, both influences their names and their innate abilities.
> 
> If killed for no other reason, a witch's life will last at least a thousand years, and they look much the same throughout most of it. They age until their magical prowess comes to its peak, and then they maintain that appearance until it begins to decline. At average, a decline begins somewhere in their 900's, and it can either go slowly, or very quickly.
> 
> Though it is not encouraged, witches (and most other Others) can reproduce with humans, doing so will inevitably muddy the magic bloodline, making the magic weaker, though their are rumors that humans with even a drop of witchblood will grow into a great deal of magic every thirteenth generation. Such rumors are dismissed by witches though, they've never actually seen it. To witches it is simply an excuse for humans to burn the "odd" human they grow tired of.


	5. In Which There are Oranges and Candy Apples

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> This week's notes are, appropriately, going to be about holidays/celebrations. Again, you are free to read them or not. It shouldn't really affect your understanding of the story. <3
> 
> Please enjoy the chapter. <333

Ignis had not expected Gladio to return for the Harvest Festival. In fact, it would have been absurd to expect either Amicitia sibling to be in their town that day. Ignis knew there had to be many other towns on their route that were bigger or did more, and truth be told, he was sure that holidays such as this one were probably one of the few times the siblings got to actually spend time together. In fact, Ignis didn't expect to see hide nor hair of Gladio again for at least a month, and Iris only slightly sooner.

He expected the Harvest Festival to be what it always was, apples and pumpkins, and the witch women showing off their best dishes, while the children ran around screaming, eating candy apples and jumping in the hay bales. It wasn't really a holiday for the men, especially unattached men. Most holidays weren't, to be perfectly honest. He would start his day as he normally might, and then wander the festivities for an appropriate amount of time before retiring back to his home before the light show over the lake at full dark. It was supposed to be a day off, so he would respect that and not do any potion work. Beyond that it would be just like any other day on any other year.

That made it odd when he woke before full light to the sound of something tapping at his window. He tried to sleep through it the first two times he heard it before he was forced to acknowledge that it wasn't nothing, and he pulled himself up out of bed to check the window. Outside sat a raccoon that was carrying something in its little hands. When it saw him standing there, it shifted so that one of those little hands could slap at his window repeatedly, demanding entry.

Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose. It was too damn early for magic raccoons. Actually. Was there ever an appropriate time for magic raccoons? They were arguably cute, but unarguably disease ridden, filthy, little thieves. Ignis for one would certainly prefer if raccoons stayed away from him, but here one was. Wanting into his house.

That little hand kept slapping at the window until Ignis was sure it would drive him insane. "Fine! Fine! Hold on!" He worked the latch on the window and pulled it up. Surprisingly, the raccoon did not hop inside. Instead it held out its small parcel to him. When Ignis tentatively reached out to take it (those things had teeth, and any bite was certain to get infected!) it patted his hand lightly with its own before it ran off, leaving Ignis holding the package and feeling thoroughly confused.

Flummoxed, Ignis closed the window again and inspected the parcel. It wasn't heavy, certainly less than five pounds. Foolishly, childishly even, he tried to figure out what it might be without opening it, but the guessing did him no good, and he was forced to simply open it like any other rational person. Right on top was a small piece of folded paper, and Ignis took that first. Maybe it held some answers.

The note, for it was a note, read:

_Iggy,_

_I do hope you get this. I asked the raccoon not to eat them, but you know how raccoons are._

_If you do get this, I hope you get it in time for the Harvest Festival. I got them in the south, and I know they aren't quite in season yet, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. You can pay me back next time we meet._

_Happy Harvest,_  
_Gladio_

The note, though pleasing, only made the package more confusing, and overtaken by curiosity Ignis opened it up to find out precisely what Gladio was talking about. He gasped. What he found inside were four perfect looking oranges. No, Gladio was right, these weren't quite in season yet, but they were a delight all the same. They were also quite expensive. No wonder Gladio would want repayment. Up here in more northern territory, even in season oranges were an expensive commodity. A  child getting an orange during the Starlight Festival was among one of the best gifts they could get, and...oh. Ignis didn't think he'd had an orange in at least three years. Now he had four.

Ignis felt like a child on Solstice as he threw himself back into his bed, an orange in hand. He peeled it slowly, delighting in the scent of the oil as it bled onto his fingers. Later, he would think about how they hadn't tasted quite right, a sign of their not being yet in season, but in that moment it was perfect and sour on his tongue. He felt...special. Gladio, who owed him nothing, had thought to send him oranges. It was probably true that he'd sent ten other former lovers oranges too, but that didn't matter. He'd gotten some, and he felt special because of it.

Far too quickly, the orange was gone, and Ignis got up from the bed, putting the other three aside, and making sure to collect the peel. He could candy this, he thought. He could candy it, and it would be just as delightful at a later date. A memory in a jar that he could pull out at any time. He would have to try and remember this feeling, Ignis thought, so he could properly tell Gladio how happy he'd been to get this. After all, he'd known Gladio wouldn't be here today. He hadn't expected it, but here he was, even if only in the form of what was truly a gift, even if he had to pay for them later.

He hadn't been especially looking forward to the festival, but now he felt like he was walking on air. Just then, he felt like he could enjoy anything.

Actually stepping out of the house a couple hours later to actual people celebrating did little to dampen his spirits. The day was clear and the air was warm, but with the quiet nip of what was perhaps the first sign of true autumn. A witch town couldn't risk something like balloons, something that might float off and give away their location, but overnight someone had spent the time putting up streamers in every possible autumn color. Every street lamp had a banner on it, and... Ignis held out his hand. Was it raining confetti? He frowned at the little pieces of...something, perhaps paper, perhaps pure magic in and of itself, that fell into his hand. They too were bright autumn colors and came in a variety of leaf shapes. They must have been made of magic, Ignis decided as he began to walk. The confetti didn't fill the streets, and no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't tell where it precisely came from.

Someone had been very busy indeed.

He smelled the sugar and heard the chatter long before the town center actually came into view. Despite the addition of magical confetti, the celebrations here seemed much the same as they were every year. Children ran from booth to booth, getting caramel corn, candied apples, and apple cider doughnuts. There were games, and prizes, and there were competitions for things like largest pumpkin. The usual Titan-Tide shops were also open, and Ignis wandered through the festivities, stepping away from children who seemed determined to get underfoot in their excitement.

The atmosphere was almost as intoxicating as several pints of ale, but Ignis knew in a couple of hours it would die down for him. He then could easily retreat until dinnertime, when he'd probably be expected to mill about and hear who'd won what before dinner the lights. If whoever was doing the light show this year was the same person who had developed this confetti...well, Ignis would admit that it would certainly be a treat.

In the end, he didn't buy much and he didn't try to take part in any of the games, but by the time he felt the euphoria starting to die down he felt sated rather than displeased with the festivities. Determined to hold onto that feeling, he began to make his way out of the chaotic middle of town to head home. That was when someone spoke directly to him for the first time. "Candy apple, Ignis?"

He knew who the voice belonged to before he turned, but it still surprised him to see Prompto standing there, actually offering him a bright red apple on a stick. Ignis hesitated, his mind trying to work out precisely why Prompto was even speaking to him, but that seemed to do nothing but irritate the smaller man. "Just take it for what it is, Ignis."

"And what is it?"

"What do you think it is?!"

Ignis smiled. Such fire. It seemed Prompto perhaps suited Ignis' name more than Ignis. "A peace offering, perhaps?"

"Well then?!" The candy apple was wagged at him, urging him to take it, and with a laugh, Ignis did. He didn't bite into it. Not yet. "Can we like...talk?"

"You did just give me food," Ignis quipped. "I suppose I'm minimally obligated to listen to what you might say."

"Cool. Uh. Can we...? Walk? While we talk?"

"Certainly."

For a moment that was just shy of being awkward they did just walk, but finally Prompto opened his mouth and out spilled, "I'm not mad at you."

He didn't have to ask about what Prompto was referring to. He knew. It had been weeks ago and he knew. "Really?" Prompto nodded, his eyes carefully trained on his own candy apple. "Surprising, considering I initially did it to upset you."

"I know you did! But like...I get it. You're frustrated, and it's not like I'm not! I have plans too, you know! So, like. I get it. You were frustrated, and you saw an opportunity, and you lashed out at me. It wasn't the worst thing you could have done. I mean, as far as lashing out goes." He shrugged. "And it wasn't like I didn't know. That he wasn't going to end up with me."

Ignis chose his next words carefully. They were such simple words, but he knew they would also have a great impact on how this conversation went. "He would have, if you'd asked."

"Yeah, I know," Prompto grumbled. "But. That was the thing. I _knew_. He flirts, but doesn't initiate. I have to ask. That's the way he works. I knew. I knew, and I didn't ask. I haven't asked. I'm...not going to ask."

"No?"

"No."

"Might I ask why?"

Prompto gave a soft laugh that felt as taut as a piano wire. "I'm not looking for a one night thing with someone who's going to go home with literally whoever." Ah, yes, that said it all. Prompto was showing his youth again. He was waiting for his One. It rang immature, though on the other side of it, Ignis had to admit that it showed a certain amount of maturity that Prompto was well aware that someone like Gladio wasn't going to be his One. "I like him. Obviously. You figured that out." Prompto rolled his eyes, and Ignis wasn't sure whether he was rolling them at Ignis or at himself. "But I know it's never gonna be a thing. So. Like. I'm not mad."

"There is a rather large difference between knowing something and seeing it before your very eyes."

"Yeah, and that...got me for a bit there, but." Prompto huffed. "Still not mad. It was...a good sort of wake up call, I guess." Prompto finally looked up at him, and for a moment their eyes met. Ignis wondered if he'd ever been able to look so directly at them before. He'd known that they were blue, but he hadn't realized they were such a bright and shocking blue. "You haven't eaten your candy apple."

"Neither have you," he quipped back, and Prompto laughed. It wasn't the taut laugh this time, but more open and free.

"That's true. On three?" Those shocking blue eyes watched Ignis give a sort of motion that he hoped portrayed an "I suppose" answer, before he started the count. "One...two...three!" Dutifully, Ignis bit down into the candy apple, and his teeth screamed at him for it. It was hard and very sweet, but his mouth filled with the both the apple and the taste of sugar spiced with cinnamon. It felt very harvest-like. Ignis himself certainly couldn't eat more than one of these, but it was no wonder why children wanted them in hand all day long.

"It's good!" Prompto said through a laugh he hid behind a hand. "Do you think it's good?"

"It's sweet."

Prompto only laughed more, and, yes, all right, in that moment, Ignis found his youthful joy sort of endearing rather than annoying. "Yeah? Kinda the point, right?"

"I suppose it is."

The second and third bites weren't so bad. Now that he had penetrated the candy coating his teeth didn't have such a hard time getting purchase on the apple. Perhaps it wasn't too bad.

They were perhaps halfway through their apples when Prompto finally spoke again. "Hey, Ignis?"

"Yes?"

"I...I don't want to be your enemy." Ignis heard him take in a deep breath before he carried on. "I know we'll probably never be friends, but I don't want you to hate me, and not just because you could kill me with a thought if you wanted to. This whole thing is shitty, but..." He drifted off, his voice not seeming to know the words to put to the emotions.

"Take your time."

"Thanks. I. Don't want to fight. Is that stupid? Or cowardly?"

"No, it's not." In fact, Ignis was fairly certain it was the most mature approach either had taken toward this situation so far. Ignis had only been frustrated and angry with the situation, but Prompto was looking for an actual solution.

"So...can we agree on that much then? No fighting? Maybe actually trying to find a thing we can both agree on to use the Noctis for? It doesn't have to be now. We've still pretty much got a year to decide, but we're never gonna decide if we can't even talk to each other."

"I can agree to that for now." It was reasonable. It was probably what they should have been doing all along. In fact, it was practically their Vow, to agree on a use before its next nameday, but Ignis had been so bent on getting Prompto to simply give up the child that he'd forgotten the entire purpose of it. He didn't want to have to find another firstborn. He truly didn't want to go through that long waiting period again, but the reality was that he would need to. Prompto needed to get some use out of it too, and it wasn't like they could simply split it in half. Ignis needed its body and soul for his potion, Ignis was sure Prompto needed at the very least its life for his purposes. There was simply no way to do both. "I promise that I won't lash out at you any longer."

"Cool. Uh. I'll walk you home? I mean, you were going home, weren't you?"

"I was."

"Great." And that was that. Prompto walked him to his door, mumbled out an awkward goodbye, and then ran off, leaving Ignis to his own devices. It didn't amount to much, really. No work on a holiday meant that Ignis was reduced to reading for pleasure, and then actually heading off to his room to nap before he would have to head out again. When he woke it was almost dark out, and he was just deciding that he was probably going to have to simply give up on eating anything savory for the day when there was a loud knocking on the door.

On the other side of the door was Prompto again, this time with Noctis on his hip, and idly Ignis wondered where the babe had been earlier. Perhaps with Cindy. It was only logical answer that came to mind. "Come on!" The man said excitedly, a grin plastered on his face. "We gotta get going if we're gonna make it to the best spot."

"Odd. I don't remember agreeing to go anywhere with you."

"Just come on!" Ignis huffed without any feeling behind it and closed the door behind him. He'd been going to go to the light show anyway. He might as well go with Prompto as a show of goodwill. After all, if a witch at least thirty years younger than him could be mature about their unfortunate situation, he owed it to him to try and be cordial, if perhaps not friendly.

He followed behind Prompto, who did something between a run and a skip all the way down to the edge of their small lake. A few early birds had already arrived, but Prompto didn't stop by them, but instead went further down the rocky beach. When he did stop it was in an almost secluded spot near the treeline and rock formation that helped to hide this side of their town from those that might do them harm. "Here?"

"Yep!" Prompto raised one arm, the child held on his hip with some strain by just the one hand, and waved vigorously to something across the lake. Ignis could see nothing, but after a moment Prompto nodded, apparently satisfied before he added, "Cindy said this was gonna be the best spot for the colors."

"Ah, so Cindy's doing the show this year?"

"Yeah! And she was in charge of decorations and the confetti effect."

"Fascinating. Tell me, how did she do the confetti?"

Prompto's grin fell just short of maniacal when he answered. "Trade secret."

They had to wait for close to another half hour for everyone to gather on the beach, and then, with the last traces of sunlight gone, it began. When it did, Ignis couldn't help but gasp. Humans had fireworks, and witches could easily recreate such a spectacle, but it would be too big, too bright, and too loud to risk. The light show was their compromise on such a celebration. The most beautiful shows Ignis had ever seen were like the aurora borealis of the north, shimmering energy that revitalized the spirits, and entertaining to anyone who didn't see it often.

This...was not that.

The lights that shined over the lake now took shape and detail. They moved, and danced, and...it told a story, Ignis realized. It was even a story that he recognized. It was a story every witch child probably grew up knowing. His uncle had possessed an illuminated book of old tales, and as he watched the lights over the lake he felt like he watching the story truly come to life off of those old pages.

It was the story of a town who hadn't had a good harvest in three years. The town knew that if they went another year without, they would likely all die in the following winter. As old tales tended to, it followed a nameless girl who decided that she would beseech the gods to end the drought and the land's infertility. She wasn't the first, but she succeeded where others failed for she offered them her greatest possession - her beautiful golden hair. Half of it she threw to the wind, so that it might reach Ramuh's hands, and the other half she buried in the soil so Titan might feel it in his bones. The gods answered her devotions with storms and mud, and, in the end, the harvest of a crop no one had ever seen before. It was tall, thin, and golden just like the hair the girl had sacrificed for the good of the town. They called it wheat, and it was still a staple in many people's lives today.

It had never been Ignis' favorite tale, but watching it was something else entirely. The detail put into the lights was amazing, he could see every strand of her golden hair flying through the wind. He could see the rain and lightning as it fell to the earth, and the wheat even glinted in the sunlight as the townspeople found it at harvest time. It was no illusion, it was too translucent, there was a soft glow to everything, and a refraction off the water that gave away the fact that these really were lights they were seeing, and not a skilled illusionist spinning a trick.

It baffled and amazed him from beginning to end, and he knew by the silence that followed the last stalk of wheat disappeared that he wasn't the only one.

"We should get going," Prompto whispered by his shoulder. "Before everyone else has the same idea at the same time and we get trapped."

"Yes," Ignis answered, feeling baffled and lost as he followed behind Prompto. He was right of course. They weren't a terribly large town, but there were plenty of them to create a slow moving mass that they didn't want to get stuck in. "Prompto."

"Yeah?"

"I must know. How did she do it? It's not illusion magic, so...how?"

He was still so mystified that Ignis couldn't even find it in himself to be irked when Prompto laughed at him, bounced the child higher up on his hip and said quite simply "Trade. Secret."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLIDAYS/CELEBRATIONS (Pt. 1):
> 
> Humans celebrate mostly the same holidays as we do, but Others celebrate things a little differently. I said at the end of the first chapter that holidays were based about equinoxes and solstices, and this will largely be a bit more of an explanation into that.
> 
> While clearly the Harvest Festival is the celebration of autumn's arrival, we also have the Starlight Festival for winter, the Planting Festival for spring, and the Lover's Festival for summer. These are the four major holidays for the year, and each one is celebrated as a day off for everyone, though actual festivities tend to cater toward women and children more than men. In every day life, men are the front of a household, or its face, and so they are thought to be celebrated every day, so holidays tend to want to honor and relieve those who might not get such praise.
> 
> All major holidays are meant to be closed with a light show or fireworks.
> 
> Of the four major holidays, the Planting Festival is most quiet. The day before everyone, regardless of their normal jobs or missions, stops and goes to nearby farms to plant, til, and just in general prepare fields for sowing. The day after is a day of cooking, until sundown, when everyone brings a dish made of leftover rations kept over winter. In modern times, keeping and storing food isn't as much of a problem, so dishes tend to be a bit fancier, but in olden times, some people were down to their last few apples, anyone bringing an apple dish was to be given assistance by the governing council and any who could spare something. The potluck as whole was to represent a departure of the bitter harshness of winter and return to outdoors and community.
> 
> The Lover's Festival is a celebration of Shiva and Ifrit's love, as the beginning of summer is halfway through the warmth of Ifrit's fire, and half way to the return of Shiva's snow. During the morning/afternoon there are games and food, and in the evening there is a dance that is only for people arriving as couples. It is traditional that any invitation to the dance be given by the woman in a relationship, or, in relationships of same sex couples, the one who would be considered more giving, emotional, or with better roots in the town. While the holiday itself is about lovers, it is said that any relationship started on the day of this festival is doomed to have a short lifespan.
> 
> The Starlight Festival (Ignis once formally refers to it as Solstice in this chapter) is the celebration of the return of light and gratitude. Though gifts can be given to anyone on any holiday, it is traditional to give anyone who has meaning in your life a gift on this day. The rarer or more pricey the gift, the more value you are putting in the person. Rare and pricey doesn't necessarily mean money-wise either, a personally handmade or home cooked gift is considered even more precious than an orange from the south. Starlight is meant to spent inside with family eating spiced things, but at night before the light show people buy candied and spiced nuts and go to watch the stars. It is said that a cloudy Starlight Festival is bad luck. It is also said that any romantic relationship started under the stars of the festival is blessed with good fortune and longevity.


	6. In Which There is a Modicum of Teamwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> Looks like we might finally be getting somewhere with this chapter, huh? (I'm sorry I'm so much slow burn. I don't know any other way to be.)
> 
> At the end of this chapter will be more notes about holidays. 
> 
> Please enjoy! <33333

Noctis would not stop crying.

Ignis swore that he had tried everything. Changing, feeding, burping, holding, playing, reading, cooing, rocking. He had even tried taking those six dammed metal bars and shaking them. Nothing had worked. Still Noctis cried, fat little tears running down its face. Ignis half wanted to cry himself. It was nearly midnight, and while it was one thing to get lost in a project and forget to sleep, it was another thing entirely to have bedtime planned and the other noisemaker in your house refuse to settle. It was even worse that he couldn't figure out why. There existed the simultaneous urge to throw the child out a window and to ensure that nothing ever made it cry like this again.

He went up the stairs. All he could do now was wait. He had to wait for it to stop. Or do something more extreme. More extreme was a last resort. He would set the child on his bed while he actually got ready for bed, and hope that eventually it would quiet down. That was the plan. The plan was shattered the moment he opened the bedroom door.

On his bedside table the wish fruit had ripened, and its demands began to assault him the moment he stepped into the room. In his arms Noctis cried even more. More extreme it would have to be. He ran back down the stairs and sat the child in its chair at the table while he raided his cabinets for the proper potion. It took a minute, but soon enough he was uncorking a bottle of Sopor that was usually reserved for the occasional customer who was suffering from insomnia, and trying to figure out in his head how much it would be safe for the babe to have.

The answer came out to three thimble fulls.

He had to find his sewing kit and then pour three thimble fulls into the babe's cup with some milk. Getting the babe to stop crying long enough to drink was a challenge all on its own, and by the time it was nodding off the fruit's cry had started to reach him down here. It was getting more urgent. Even with that Call, he waited until he was sure the child wasn't falling into an eternal sleep before he dashed back up the stairs to get the fruit. When he touched it the cries about fire filled him again. This time, the voice would be almost recognizable, if not for the crackling of flame he also heard. This fruit perhaps wasn't as maniacal as he'd originally thought. It now sounded like like this person needed help putting out fire, rather than setting it, as he'd previously assumed.

_"ALL OF IT-- EVERYTHING IS BURNING. I CANNOT STOP IT ALONE. PLEASE--"_

He bit into the fruit's flesh. A nearly overwhelming wave of spice hit his tongue, but it didn't matter because then he was gone to answer the Wish's Call. When he breathed in again he got heat, not from the fruit, but from burning fire. It tasted like smoke on his tongue, and he had to resist the urge to cough. This was (thank the Astrals) not in town, so where was he and who had called for him?

"Ignis?!"

He turned and found himself face to face with bright blue eyes and hair that ought to be yellow. It was Prompto, who's voice he could not properly pick out from the crackle of fire. It was Prompto whose Wish had called him. "What are you doing here?!"

"You Wished. I answered."

"I Wished?" The words were so soft the fire around them almost carried them off entirely. "I suppose I must have. I cannot..."

"You cannot stop it alone."

"...Yeah."

Ignis wanted to ask what could have possibly brought him here, to this point in a burning town. He wanted to ask, but there was no time. Around them the flames were only growing bigger, and already the anxiety of being so close to burning was settling in at the edge of his senses. If he was to truly be any help at all, they needed to get started. "How can I help?"

Prompto opened his mouth only to cough. When he stopped coughing, his voice seemed cracked. How long had he been out here? Ignis was willing to bet it was too long. "Are you any good at elements?"

"It is only my marked skill set."

"Okay," Prompto heaved, clearly frazzled. Hands, blackened with soot pushed up into already dingy hair. "Fire-Air or Water-Earth?"

"Prompto," he began, allowing himself a small fire among the flames and nerves. "What is my name?"

"It's Ignis--Oh. Shut up! Fine! Okay! That. Works. Come on!" Ignis allowed himself to be half dragged by hands that were too warm off to the center of town. The air here was a little cooler, without many buildings nearby, but there was a large well. Prompto took in a staggering breath and all but fell down next to the well. He must have been exhausted. They needed to finish this quickly or Prompto wouldn't make it. The thought was...saddening, that Prompto's life might end this way. In fire. No. Ignis would get him through this. No witch would die this way on his watch. Not again.

Shaking hands fumbled with his satchel, and, curiously, out came a piece of chalk. He began to draw on the well wall, and Ignis noticed in the flickering flame-light that there was a chalk circle drawn next to it as well. Alchemy. Prompto was skilled in alchemy. Ignis knew that alchemy wasn't an easy devotion to master.

"Here." Ignis went when called, and Prompto took his hand. In his hand was a knife that Ignis hadn't noticed him retrieving. Prompto made a small cut, just on the tip of his finger. It was then placed flat against the center of the circle he'd drawn. "When I say go, all you gotta do is feed your magic into it. If there's a part of you specifically for fire, even better. Feed that." Prompto had released his wrist and was now making modifications to the other circle.

Prompto had made a small cut on his own his finger before Ignis thought to ask. "What is it going to do?"

"Pull."

Ignis felt like that answered nothing, but when Prompto looked him in the eye and nodded, Ignis fed his magic to the circle. As it turned out, "pull" was perhaps the best word to describe what happened when he did. Beneath his fingers the circle glowed, and it _pulled_ the fire toward them. It caused a terror to rise inside of Ignis, but he didn't allow himself to let go. He kept feeding the circle, and the fire flew past their heads and down the well. Beside him, Prompto fed the other circle, and when he tried to look through the smoke and flames he thought he saw that Prompto was doing the complete opposite. Ignis was pulling fire. Prompto was pushing water out from the well.

It was truly a majestic sight. It was truly a terrifying spectacle. Ignis found that he couldn't watch, and so he shut his eyes tight and gave himself wholly over to feeding the circle his magic.

He fed it for what felt like an eternity. He fed it until his knees and elbows shook from the strain and it felt like if he sat there for one more instant he'd pass out from just the constant drain. He fed it until the stone beneath his hands was so hot he was sure his hands were burning. He didn't give up. He had committed himself to this Wish. He'd committed himself to helping Prompto help this town, and so--

"Stop. You. Can stop." He didn't need Prompto's hands at his elbow to pull his hand away. He was all too happy to let his hand fall. It burned and ached just as the rest of him seemed to, but. Well. It was nothing a sip from a potion on his shelf at home wouldn't fix. Beside him Prompto coughed. That was a more serious problem. The smoke in his lungs would have to work itself out naturally.

"Is it over?"

"Yeah. Look." Ignis opened his eyes. Everything around him was dark. He could barely see Prompto beside him. Even as his eyes started to adjust, all he could see was the faint outlines of still standing houses. He couldn't tell how much of them were still standing. All he knew was that they weren't on fire anymore, and his nose was filled with smoke and damp. He knew this was not something he could have done alone. This wasn't something that ten elementals could have done. Not on this scale. What that circle had precisely done to his magic, he couldn't know, but it had somehow made it much more than it was by itself.

"Is the well dry?"

"It'll refill from its source. Pretty sure, anyway." Prompto coughed again. "They'll probably need someone to purify the water though. Maybe you'll pluck that Wish."

"Perhaps." Ignis knew he wouldn't risk coming back out here at night though. Speaking of. "We need to go, before any survivors come back to town. Before they decide we set the fire to begin with." They would, even if they actually knew better. Even if Prompto had been asked here to help _prevent_ something like this, they would be blamed. It was simply how it was. They were witches. Everything was their fault.

"Yeah," Prompto agreed softly. "I'll see you back in town?"

"No, no. I am not leaving you here to be caught. Did you come by broom?" It was a struggle to get to his feet. The ground seemed to wobble beneath him. He had to put his burning hand against the well to stabilize him. It caused the pain to sear its way up his arm.

"Nah. I walked."

Ignis paused. "Is this...?" He couldn't quite get the words out of his mouth, but luckily, Prompto seemed to understand what he was trying to get at.

"No, it's the mining village. Cartanica?"

"Yes, that sounds correct." Cartanica was smaller than the larger, more southern town of Galdin that Noctis had come from. Somehow that was a relief. Ignis wasn't sure why, but he didn't want Noctis' parents dead or homeless. It wouldn't do. Still, Cartanica was at least a two hour's walk from their town on a good day. He should have taken a broom. Why in all the gods' names had he walked? "Come here." He beckoned him with a hand as well as his words, and, to be perfectly honest, the very thought of doing more magic right now turned his stomach, but with the fire out, and the smoke clearing, anyone who was still alive would be returning quickly, and they'd be looking for someone to blame. They needed to be long gone before that.

"What am I--Oh!" Prompto's voice squeaked in surprise as Ignis hastily pulled him close. He was stiff as a board against him, but that was fine. It didn't matter.

"Hold your breath." He felt Prompto nod against his shoulder, and Ignis let the wind take them.

By himself, transporting like that was as easy as breathing. With a passenger larger than a parcel in his arms, it was harder. Exhausted with a large passenger felt damn near impossible, and Ignis would later be ashamed to say that they only made it as far as their Wishing Tree before they reappeared, and that he needed to use Prompto for stability for several long and agonizing moments.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be right as rain after some sleep." Some, he said, as though he wouldn't be dead to the world for at least half a day after this. As though Prompto shouldn't be the same.

"I suppose you'll want Noctis."

"Hm?"

"As payment. For answering my Wish. You'll want Noctis."

Ah. Truth be told, Ignis hadn't really thought about it. He'd come into a chaotic scene, full of fire and panic. It had happened so quickly, and had been so exhausting that he really hadn't thought about the payment he was due. It would be quite the nice little way to wrap everything up in a bow. Demand Prompto's half of Noctis as payment, end their Vow, make his potion, and move on with his life. It would be absolutely ideal, but, "No."

"No?"

"No," Ignis repeated with a shake of his head that regrettably made the world spin.

"Why not? It would be so easy!"

Yes, of course it would. So very easy. Easy, ideal, perfect for him. "It wouldn't be an even price. What did I do? I appeared. I assisted you, but all I did was the equivalent of stirring a cauldron of potion you made and calling it mine. You drew the circles and I powered one of them. You did the heavy lifting, and I just gave you an extra set of hands, so to speak. I'm tired, yes, but I did not change your life. It is not worth your half of Noctis. I will not ask it. I cannot, in good conscience, ask it."

It was clear that his statement baffled Prompto. Blue eyes that were bloodshot and irritated were wide with shock and wonder. His mouth hung slightly ajar. "Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"Thank you!" Ignis was so exhausted that the force of Prompto's tiny body hugging him felt like he was being body slammed by someone twice his size. It almost knocked him off his feet. "Thank you!" He repeated into his chest, the words muffled. Were--were those sobs? "You don't know what this means to me." No. Ignis would daresay he didn't. He still had no idea at all what Prompto intended to use the child for. All he knew was that he counted it as a lesser reason than his own. All he knew was that it was personal and therefore selfish. None of that meant it was all right for him to pry it from his hands for something as simple as what he'd really done.

Awkwardly, Ignis patted at Prompto's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, and with a bit of a laugh, Prompto pulled back, the weight of his arms around Ignis' waist a distinct loss as the chilled air reached the space where they'd been. He had been - was - crying, and the tears had made little paths through the soot on his face. Without thinking Ignis reached out and pushed one across his cheek, revealing freckles hidden underneath. The freckles _were_ an attractive feature, he decided. Prompto didn't look right without them.

"What do you want instead?" Prompto whispered.

"I don't know," Ignis answered honestly. "I don't know what you have to offer." Which wasn't normally how the Wishes worked, but, again, he'd come onto a chaotic scene. It was neither the first or the last time something like this would fall from the Wishing Tree, he was sure.

"How..." Prompto faltered for a moment, but then took in a deep breath and continued. "Why don't you come over on Shiva-Tide? You can bring Noctis and pick something from my wares."

"You have wares?"

Ignis thought that if his face were clean, Prompto would be blushing. "I don't really...advertise it, but...yeah. I do."

"I'd love to see."

"Okay. Shiva-Tide then?"

"Yes," Ignis said, feeling distinctly pleased with where this was going. "On Shiva-Tide."

"Cool. I'll see you then." Prompto ran off then, disappearing into the darkness beyond the Wishing Tree, and Ignis was left to walk home.

By the time he got to his front door, Ignis was half sure he'd both fall over right there and that he'd fall asleep standing up, but he still managed to make it inside and half walked - half wobbled his way to Noctis' bed to check on him. There were several long, agonizing moments where he wasn't sure the babe was breathing, but then, it stretched its arms above its head, and Ignis heaved a sigh of relief. The potion had done no harm, and Noctis slept peacefully.

Assured that the babe was all right, Ignis made his way upstairs and barely kicked off his shoes before collapsing into bed. He would regret not showering first in the morning, he knew. He knew knew everything would smell like smoke and soot, and that it would take several washes to get it out of his clothes and sheets, but right then it didn't matter. He was too exhausted, and he was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLIDAYS/CELEBRATIONS (Pt. 2):
> 
> Humans celebrate birthdays, and Witches/Others celebrate namedays. For humans there would be no difference, for children are usually named as soon as they are born. Witches usually name their child about a week after birth, for usually their witch's mark has appeared by that time, and often a witch's name is in some way inspired by their mark. Ignis himself plainly states in this chapter that he's blatantly named Ignis because of his ability with fire. That ability would have been known when his mark appeared, long before any magical ability would have actually showed itself.
> 
> A nameday might not perhaps be as precise as an accurate indicator of age, but it is celebrated in much the same fashion as a birthday. One does not plan their own nameday, it's considered bad form, and instead one's friends and family are expected to get together and plan it out for them.
> 
> Such plans can be as simple as a day of rest mostly left undisturbed, or be as exciting as a grand celebration involving the whole town. In general though a gift from each of one's loved ones is expected, and the one celebrating their nameday is expected to eat nothing but confections all day, as it is supposed to sweeten one's year to come, and eating anything savory that day will "salt the ground" so to speak, and nothing in your life will grow. As you might imagine, cake is traditionally shared between the person and their loved ones, so they might share the year's sweet times together.
> 
> Beyond the festivals and namedays, most witch towns have holidays personal to the town, usually at the very least a holiday celebrating the town's founding, and of course one day celebrating their Wishing Tree. In Ignis and Prompto's town, the two are celebrated as one and the same. It is a day of no work, and all the healthy residents of town are expected to go out and show the tree their devotion.
> 
> Showing the devotion usually involves a ribbon wrapping ceremony and then hanging small pieces of paper with phrases of thanks upon its lower branches. After that is a potluck feast below its branches, followed by dancing until sunset. The evening is meant to be concluded in silence as the town's occupants walk home.


	7. In Which There is Talk of Magitek

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> This week's notes are one Wishing Trees and the Witching Towns.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter! <3

There was an inexplicable sense of excitement about Shiva-Tide this week. It might have easily been explained as excitement over getting to go and pick out his payment for helping Prompto out a couple days before, but that wasn't quite it. It was perhaps the sense of unknown that went along with it. To Ignis' knowledge, no one had ever been inside the Aurum-Argentum household before, and no one knew what they sold. In general, people knew what you offered. Everyone knew that if you wanted a potion done right, you came to Ignis. Everyone knew that if you wanted a rare ingredient you went to Gladio or Iris. No one seemed to know what precisely Prompto and Cindy offered. Everyone knew Cindy had made the confetti and light show for the Harvest Festival, but no one had figured out how.

Ignis had an inkling when it came to Prompto, but only because he'd seen the chalk circles. If alchemy was truly his discipline, Ignis was interested in see what else he did with it. Perhaps it was that. He was looking forward to learning more. Not a lot of people studied alchemy, and Ignis had never seen a devoted one at work. A learning experience, one that he'd never expected to come across here. Alchemy was such a city witch kind of thing.

Even as he walked through the now nearly biting chill of early morning with Noctis on his hip it was exciting. As he knocked on the front door of their not-quite-architecturally-sound house, he reminded himself that he was a guest. He was to be on his best behavior.

It was Cindy who answered the door. Her face was streaked with dirt and hands covered by gloves that were just as marred. "Hey there," she greeted in her farming country accent. It was an accent, Ignis bothered to notice for the first time, that Prompto did not share with his sister. "Prom told me you'd be comin' by."

"Prom?" A smile curled around his lips. "What an adorable nickname."

"You," Cindy said clearly, jabbing a finger at his chest. "Don't get to use it." She began to pull the gloves off her hands, a finger at a time. Underneath, the skin was clean, but the nails were short and uneven, a sign that she didn't care much about her appearance, unlike most young witches. "Do ya understand?"

"I do." So hostile. She and her brother had that same sort of fire in them. Of course, then again, they were travelers. They'd probably needed that fire to survive.

"Good. Prom don't need any more of yer bullshit." That made Ignis frown, and Cindy in turn frowned more too. "Don't gimme that. You helped him with that fire, and I appreciate that. I do. That don't mean you wanna play nice." Now that her hands were free of the gloves she tossed them aside before she held her arms out for the child. "I'll take Noctis while you go talk to Prom. He's upstairs."

Ignis hefted the child into Cindy's arms, where it sat just as happily as it had in his own arms. Once it was settled on her hip, she moved aside, and Ignis was allowed to step inside. The sight he saw took the breath right out of his lungs.

All around him was golden machinery.

Much of it was still, dormant, but there was a box in a corner that was steaming, and nutcracker looking contraption that swung its arms back and forth while bubbles came out its hat, and, was--was that a whole carriage? He went to touch it in awe. Cindy's hand slapped his own sharply enough for it to hurt. "Hands to yerself."

"Ah," Ignis felt his face flush with embarrassment as he rubbed the irritated spot on his hand. "My apologies. I meant no harm."

"Uh huh. Come on. Stairs are this way." Ignis followed after her, truly glad for her guidance. The place was so covered in tools, sheets, and machinery that Ignis was unsure that he could have easily found the stairs on his own. Even once she showed him where they were they seemed to blend in with the rest. They were golden stained half logs of wood that were littered with little gears, tools, and bits. It seemed a mess, yet Ignis got the distinct impression that everything was where they meant it to be. "Up you get."

"Right. Ah. Thank you."

"Yeah. Sure." Cindy waved him off before she and the child disappeared into another room entirely. Ignis hoped that room was more child-safe than this one seemed to be. If his potions and ingredients had been in danger at home, this seemed to be an utter death trap, despite its awe inducing marvel.

Each step he took felt sturdy and secure, but the higher he went, the more that Ignis noticed slight changes. More downstairs everything had been golden colored, but starting about halfway up he noticed silvery things, little bobs and bits that weren't gold but silver. The tools, and even the stairs themselves became a lighter color. It was only when he found a woven silver sphere at the top of the stairs that his brain made the final connection.

Cindy Aurum and Prompto Argentum. Gold and silver. His own first name was the clue to the innate power he held inside of him. Their clue was in their last. So Cindy worked downstairs, and upstairs was Prompto's domain.

Like the downstairs, the upstairs was a wide open space, with a couple of doorways that probably went off to bedrooms, and - well, was it just him, or did this whole place seem bigger inside than Ignis had ever thought it was by its outside? Downstairs it was dark, hard to see, and the windows were covered. Up here the light shined freely through a window, and it made Prompto easy to find.

He sat at a desk, with a contraption in his lap, hands meticulously using a small tool to fiddle or fix it. In the morning light, the dark circles under his eyes were deep and dark, and clear indicator that he'd probably been working all night. Unlike downstairs, everything up here was neat and tidy. There were shelves that had devices higher up on them, and the lower shelves had papers and books. This, Ignis thought, was probably new. This was probably the child proofing that Prompto had done. In fact, when he looked, he saw a cradle crafted in silver off in the corner. Yes, he decided, upstairs was probably where Prompto mostly kept the child. Downstairs was not its usual place.

"Knock knock?" Ignis ventured as he stepped up off the last stair and fully into the second floor of the house.

Before him, Prompto startled badly. "Shit!" The thing in his lap almost fell to the floor, and he watched helplessly as Prompto fumbled with it, before managing to get a grasp on it in tossing it almost carelessly onto his desk in a tumble. That done, the man before him stretched his legs out in front of him and pressed his palms into his eyes. "Shit." He repeated. "Is it really morning already?"

"Hm," Ignis hummed, feeling amused by this whole ordeal. "It has been for several hours, according to the sun."

"Really?" Prompto half whined as he leaned his head back to look out the window. He groaned at what he saw. "Sorry."

"No apologies needed. Truly." He paused, a small part of him actually feeling concerned over those dark circles. "Have you slept at all?"

"Sleep is for quitters."

"Prompto--"

"No, Ignis, it's cool. I'll sleep a little later. Promise. Sleeping during the day is nothing new."

"That's hardly good for your sleep cycle."

"Sleep cycles are also for quitters."

Ignis snorted, both amused and aware that he wasn't going to win this one. If Prompto wanted to work all night and sleep all day there was nothing he could say to change his mind, and, really, as long as Noctis was cared for, he had no say in it anyway. "If you say so."

"I do," Prompto said with a tired seeming nod, that just made Ignis sigh internally. What should he care though? If Prompto wanted to run himself into the ground and not take care of himself, what did he care? It would even be good for him. But. It was hard to feel that way anymore when he remembered how much Prompto cared for people who would kill him given half a chance, and how his freckles were a defining feature on his face that made his smile more vibrant. It was hard to feel that way when he was starting to really see that Prompto was a good person, better than him, a person who would offer a hand to what ought to be his greatest enemy, just to show them the best spot for the light show.

He should take care of himself.

"So, what do you think you'll want?"

"Well," Ignis said, shaking his head to get the unwarranted thoughts out of his head. "That's hardly a question I can answer when I barely know what I'm looking at." He smiled, nodding his head toward all the little bits and pieces sitting about. "I suppose I should just ask. This. All of this. Is it magitek?"

"Is that what the kids these days call it?"

"Prompto," he chided.

Ignis swore that smile could shine brighter than the sun. "Yeah. It's magitek. That's. Not. A problem, is it?"

"No. Should it be?"

Ignis was sure that the shrug of Prompto's shoulders was meant to look nonchalant, but it only came off as anxious and worried. "People...they don't always like it. They say it's cheating. Or. Defying the gods. Or they sometimes even say it's like necromancy."

Ignis paused before he carefully added. "They say that about alchemy too, don't they?"

"Yeah. They do. They say it's a workaround for real skill and power. Or. Two steps away from forbidden things." And that, right there, Ignis knew, was probably why no one knew what was in here. They were wary. Perhaps they were right to be. They were still unsettled enough to be considered travelers. If the townspeople knew they actually practiced those devotions of magic. Well. Ignis could kick himself for not thinking of such stigmas sooner. No wonder Cindy was a bit hostile toward him. They were probably used to having to protect themselves from nearly everyone and everything.

It took Ignis perhaps a bit too long to open his mouth and say, "I suspect it takes a great deal more than the average study and dedication to learn alchemy and tinkering."

"I. I wouldn't say that," Prompto said, biting his lip. "But thanks."

"You'll earn no judgement from me. Not for this. All knowledge is useful, and I can only imagine what yours can do." After all, it had created confetti rain and the most dazzling light show he'd ever seen. It had been used to show devotion to the gods and their culture, not to besmirch it. Anyone and anything could be good or evil. Nothing was wholly one or the other on principal. Except perhaps humans, but. No. _No_. Not even humans. Gladio was part human. He couldn't say even they as a whole were bad. Nearly all? Yes, but not all. Not that he'd ever say it aloud. He had to have his prejudices, at least the one. "Tell me what you're working on?"

The way Prompto lit up to talk about it was simply delightful. His hands moved as he talked and he pointed out this or that, his teeth were very nearly always visible as he smiled the whole time. It was clear that Prompto loved his work, and Ignis felt like he was weak before the power of that. He didn't love his work, not like this. Hearing Prompto talk about it was like hearing a child talk about summer. It was filled with glee, joy, and awe. Ignis had never felt a passion like that for his work. His passion came from simply doing it because it was the right thing to do, it was his devotion, and part of it was to help people, so he developed new potions, as his uncle had. Potions was his family legacy, and judging by Cindy's own work downstairs, their work was a family legacy too, but this was clearly different. He patted his project as though it were his own child. It left Ignis wondering how anyone could think this work was evil or wrong. There was so much pure joy in it. Yet, obviously they'd run into it, and this town was traditional enough that Ignis found he could not blame Prompto and Cindy for hiding their work behind the phrase "trade secret."

"So it's going to be a dog? A magitek dog."

"Yeah. Basically." Ignis could see the shape of the head and forelegs now, though he honestly would have never guessed dog from seeing it in Prompto's lap. Perhaps when it was finished, it would look like the dog Prompto said it ought to.

"And, for argument's sake, why should I choose a magitek dog, and not a normal one?"

"Ah. Well." The smile faltered a little, and Ignis feared he'd said something wrong. After all, one might argue with him, why choose a fortuna potion instead of working hard and making your own luck? Then, the answer he got was serious. "A magitek dog doesn't need to breathe, and the metal it's made from melts at a much higher point than wood burns." Prompto licked his lips. "People died, in that town. You know, the other night. A dog like this, if it worked right, could have saved some of them. And--" Prompto paused, his fingers tracing along the whorls of metal in the dog's half frame. "With its teeth, it might be able to bite through rope. It could be fast enough to carry someone away. Maybe from being pursued."

That left Ignis awed. "You're thinking of making them to save witches from burnings."

Prompto nodded small. The movement was barely noticeable. "I thought about a horse instead, but...too big. It couldn't navigate the crowds that gather to watch. Or get into houses set on fire. A dog is better. People don't even look at dogs sometimes? If I employed Cindy's light system, maybe I could even make it look like a real dog. I mean, it can do other things too, like fetch your tools or guard your things." He laughed, and Ignis frowned.

"No, don't make light of what your plan for it is, Prompto. It's remarkable. It could truly change lives." His own life could have been changed by something like this, if his parents had been saved from burning by any dog, anything, well. He knew what kind of person he'd be instead. Happier, probably.

"Do. Do you really think so?"

"I do."

Prompto sat back in his seat, and it felt like a much longer time period than it was probably was before he asked. "Do you think I could trust the Amicitia siblings?"

"I--" that seemed like such an odd, out of the blue question. "I do, yes, but specifically with what?"

Prompto sighed, hanging his head. "Selling them? I mean, obviously I'd give commission. I'd go sell them myself, but I want to settle my roots here, and that means not traveling anymore, and..." His voice trailed off. Ignis decided to finish the thought for him.

"The Amicitias travel."

"Yeah. I figure witch towns would only need one for its main purpose. You'd feed it with magic and let it roam at night. So if Iris and Gladio could try to sell them. That'd be great. It might even...work around some of the stigma. Prove it's not like necromancy and it's a real devotion with real use."

"Gladio will probably be in town in the next week or so. You could talk to him." Ignis didn't think his devotion would cause Gladio to think any lesser of Prompto. It was a witch sort of prejudice, and Gladio wasn't that. Besides, it wasn't like Gladio wasn't used to having his own rumors and stigmas.

The red that had been creeping onto Prompto's face for a little while now took over completely, and Ignis had to stop himself from sighing. Ah yes. That crush. Such things didn't just go away overnight, did they? "I. Could. Try?"

"It's easy to talk to him."

"I know!" Prompto said quickly, before he added in a rushed mumble. "I'm the problem."

"Just talk to him as you talked to me. You could win almost anyone over like that."

Prompto snorted. "Thanks."

"I mean it. Your passion is refreshing. I'm a little jealous."

"You? Jealous?"

"Yes. Truly. You have a fiery passion burning inside you for what you do. If I ever had that sort of fire at all it's long gone."

"If you say so." Those were the words of a man who did not believe him, but Ignis didn't press the issue, and a moment later Prompto pushed himself back up to his feet. "Anyway you didn't come here to listen to me ramble on about what I do or how to sell it. Come on, Ignis. You can choose anything. Anything I've made. Cindy's stuff is off limits, but anything of mine, you can have."

"Well," Ignis began. "Now that I know what you do, I must admit I have no idea what I should choose. I don't know where I'd even begin."

"I can walk you through some of the stuff on my shelf?"

"That would be lovely."

Prompto told him about several different items, but while all of them sounded fascinating, none of them sounded like something Ignis needed. After what felt like the hundredth thing he'd shaken his head at, Prompto offered something different. "Why don't I just make you something. Custom? Something just for you?"

"Like what?"

"Dunno yet. You're...a brewer, right?"

"Yes. Brewing is my devotion."

"I can work with that. I'm sure I can make something useful and personal. It'll just take some time. Can you wait?"

"I admit that I'm in no rush to be paid for this." He hadn't come here with a specific need in mind that needed to be filled. He hadn't even come here with any idea of what Prompto could do for him. He'd come here having fulfilled his side of the Wish. It was now Prompto's job to complete his end of the deal.

Prompto flashed that increasingly charming smile, and it made Ignis want to smile too. "Cool! I'll deliver it to you when it's done. Deal?"

"Deal."

When he left Prompto to his work not more than ten minutes later, he found Cindy waiting for him, Noctis on her hip chewing on what looked like a piece of bread. "Don't worry," he assured her. "I shan't be running off to inform everyone that you're tinkers, and I don't find it to be a shameful devotion."

"You better not," she warned. Ignis got the distinct impression that Prompto had gotten in a lot of trouble for inviting him over. He wondered how many times they'd tried to settle roots but had been forced to leave because of just one or two people who didn't like what they did. It wouldn't happen here, at least not because of him. Witches garnered enough hate from humans, they didn't need it from other witches too. "Do you need help gettin' out?"

"No, I'm sure I'll manage. Have a nice day, Cindy." He said it almost too politely, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. Ignis knew the truth now though. As much as he hated to admit it, he and Prompto Argentum weren't enemies anymore. They weren't even rivals. They had a problem together, and they had to learn to make each other allies.

On his way out, he tried not to stare in too much awe of the creations around him. He wasn't sure he succeeded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Wishing Tree/Witch Towns:
> 
> According to myth, Wishing Trees are the children born of Shiva and Ifrit's love, and they embody their deepest wish that humans and Others get along. No one has ever looked for a deeper answer to that, for what other answer could there be for that all Wishing Trees can do?
> 
> And what is it that Wishing Trees do? According to witches, just about everything. Though they grow fruit, they don't appear to have any seeds. You cannot plant a Wishing Tree, one will simply show up near a place that has a lot of people wishing for things. The tree in Ignis and Prompto's town is in the general "vicinity" of several towns, all of them connected to the same tree, and there are only a few known Wishing Trees in that region, and there are more near cities, naturally, though witches consider it a high risk lifestyle to live near a city, even under the protection of a Wishing Tree.
> 
> No one is quite sure who discovered how to work Wishing Trees, it was quite possibly several people at about the same time, but whoever it was a witch and they had a wish to protect their people from those that would harm them. The Wishing Tree itself offered to grant the wish, but under the price that all those would lived under its protection granted the wishes that grow in its fruits.
> 
> All witch towns are made the same way, a single witch wishes for protection, and the tree will grant that wish for the price of the people under it's protection granting wishes as best they can. It's a symbiotic relationship, the tree exists to grant wishes but it cannot grant all its wishes on its own, so it grants one wish that it can, and has others grant the rest. In return witches who live and are within a certain distance of their tree are visibly hidden from those who would do them harm. To anyone who would wish a town's occupants harm, the Wishing Tree looks like a normal fruit bearing tree of the region, and the beyond looks like a forest, and no one wishes to enter, they always turn back. 
> 
> Witches who live in towns and try to ignore the wishes they are assigned have been noted to eventually be driven insane. While failing to grant a wish is acceptable and bears no consequence from the tree, an attempt must be made, and the fruit must be eaten once ripe.
> 
> Wishes that grow on a Wishing Tree can be most anything from the desire to have a child when you are barren to the desire to have a certain toy. Wishes can come from humans or Others, though it has been noted that humans wish far more often, and that is part of why it is thought that Wishing Trees are meant to try and create goodwill between humans and witches.
> 
> It is said that at the top of Wishing Tree is a single wish, always ripe, always the same wish; the wish to find the nearby witches and destroy the town they know is there, somewhere. If one discovers that said fruit is gone, the town should be abandoned immediately, for there are only two ways for those who mean harm to get in, one, be more powerful than the tree, an unlikely feat, especially for humans. The other, is to be led in by an oathbreaker who has plucked the fruit and decided to betray them all.
> 
> As a general side note about the towns themselves, it is considered bad luck to name them, as naming a thing gives it a location and identity, thus making it easier to find. This is why no one has ever referred to the town Ignis and Prompto live in by name. It doesn't have one, it is simply their town.


	8. In Which Gladio Returns to Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> I feel so behind on my writing right now, since I just spent like three weeks writing the final chapter to the other series I was writing. It should be fine though, I got one chapter ahead again, and now if I just keep plugging away at it for a bit I should get up a good buffer again!
> 
> This week's chapter notes are on devotions!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy. <3

It was the second day in a row that a hard frost had come in overnight. It was that brief season of year when the nights were biting and bitter, but the days were warm and full of sun. Well, warm was perhaps an opinion. Warm enough that the frost melted away, surely, but not warm enough that Ignis didn't make sure the child had layers, and that his own outerwear was well buttoned before they went out to the Titan-Tide market.

It was simultaneously a surprise and a pleasure to see that Gladio was standing in his normal spot. It had been nearly a month since he'd seen him, longer than he was normally away, but, even though he'd said to Prompto nearly two weeks before that Gladio should be around soon, he'd expected to see Iris first. The young woman was absent though, and her brother stood there, looking both friendly and intimidating. The intimidating part melted away as soon as Ignis came close and a smile spread over Gladio's face that made Ignis smile in return.

"There's my favorite customers."

"Uh huh," Ignis teased. "I bet you say that to all your customers."

"No," Gladio objected. "Not all of them."

The warmth that only Gladio seemed to be able to give him filled him from toe to head, and when he laughed it was genuine. "I loved the oranges."

"Did you?"

"Yes, they were a delightful treat. I've candied the peels. I think I'll save it for Solstice."

"That's what I like to hear. Did you get them by the Harvest Festival?"

"The morning of," Ignis confirmed. "They made my day." It was also true that Cindy's light show had been a delight, and he'd enjoyed most of the other bits and pieces as well, but the truth of it was that he wouldn't have been nearly so open to it all without the surprise of oranges before the sun had even risen. "How much do I owe you for them?" He was already digging around his bag for coins when he heard Gladio's chortle.

"I wasn't thinking about money when I said you could pay me back, Iggy."

He paused, looking up. "No?"

"Nah."

"Then...?"

The grin already plastered on Gladio's face widened. "Another invitation to your place for dinner and maybe breakfast would satisfy me."

Ignis found that he quite felt like Prompto as he stuttered and stumbled over his next words. "I thought. You said?"

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to go any further than that, because Gladio apparently picked up on his meaning. He made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh, yet struck like one against his soul. "I said might, and, that aside, I think you underestimate how much you allowing me to stay after dawn meant to me."

"If I remember correctly, you stayed until nearly evening, let alone after _dawn_."

"I did, and I'd like that with you again, if you'd accept that as your payment for oranges."

Ignis smiled. He wasn't quite sure what sort of smile it was, but he knew it was genuine and that his heart was filled with a sort of fondness that had been foreign to him for many years. "I would happily have you as my house guest again and still pay you for the oranges."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Then consider the oranges a gift. I don't want your money for them. I just want more time with you."

"How bold," Ignis teased, but Gladio only shrugged.

"I know what I want, and since I was here last time, it's only been you."

"How smooth." He teased again, with absolutely no bite behind his words. "I'll see you after you're done for the day?"

"Absolutely. Wouldn't miss it."

That evening was almost precisely the same as the first evening they'd shared, except there was no storm overhead and there was no tripping up over opposite opinions. Dinner was pleasant, and Gladio hogged Noctis all to himself, not that Ignis was complaining about that. He raved about the thyme, pasta, chicken dish he'd made, and somehow managed to get Noctis to eat most of its pumpkin puree. When all the light coming from outside were from the street lamps, Gladio offered to put the child to bed, and Ignis began on dishes.

It was only Gladio's second time at his house, but there was somehow a sort of rhythm that they'd already fallen into that Ignis found extremely comforting. His presence here didn't feel like an intrusion, instead it felt right, like Gladio was a missing piece of a puzzle he hadn't been aware he hadn't completed. Idly, he wondered if the feeling would last, or if it was more of a fleeting thing. He found he wasn't really sure he wanted to find out.

Ignis was unsure if Gladio simply didn't try to sneak up on him or if he was becoming more attune to his presence, because there was no surprise from behind that evening, and instead Ignis turned to look at him the moment he entered the room. Gladio seemed to mull something over in his head before he asked. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"I'm surprised you asked if you could instead of just asking."

"That's not a yes."

Ignis smiled indulgently. "It's a yes. Go ahead."

"What do you need Noctis for? I know it's a potion," he was speaking quickly, as though he didn't want to offend Ignis. Probably a smart move, even though Ignis wasn't finding himself offended by the question at all. "But what sort of potion is _that_ important? That you're gonna kill a kid for it?"

Ignis gestured toward the chair, and as Gladio sat down, Ignis dried off his hands before he went to do the same. "Do you know what a panacea is?" Gladio shook his head, and Ignis hmmed. He'd suspected as much. Most people probably hadn't. "It's, put simply, a cure all."

"So it'd cure anything?"

"Anything at all. Hurts, illness, physical, mental, and so on. A panacea will take care of it all. No one's ever managed to make one. It's legend at best, poppycock at worst. Many brewers have devoted their lives to finding one. A panacea would save many lives, and not just the lives of witches. It would do such things for anyone or anything who put the potion to their lips. In theory, anyway."

"And you're just the latest brewer to devote your life to this legend?"

"Quite so. Uncle always said I was a bit overambitious. There is nothing wrong with being a town brewer. Absolutely nothing wrong with spending your life making cold remedies and fortuna potions. I probably will spend most of my life that way, but there is time between to attempt something more - to expand upon things. We will die, after all, if we remain stagnant, and our numbers are small enough already."

"So you think this panacea requires a firstborn?"

"Yes," Ignis shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, I don't like humans. At all. I probably never will. They have their uses though, and they feel quite intensely. I haven't always lived in this town. My roots here are only about as old as Iris is. I spent nearly a decade before that gathering all the research on panaceas I could find. And they were all missing something. Like a giant puzzle. All the research had pieces, but they all missed the same piece."

"The firstborn."

"A sacrifice," Ignis specified. "Potential. You can't get something for nothing. I have tried a number of smaller sacrifices, ones that are easier to get your hands on, but the simple fact is, if you want to get the best results you must give it the best ingredients and put your time into getting them."

"Makes sense."

"I believe the body and soul of just one firstborn will be able to create a _great_ deal of potion. It's that powerful. A potion that could save hundreds with the life of one babe? I consider that worth it."

"Not everyone will agree."

"No. I daresay they won't." Even among witches the use of a firstborn was considered a last resort. It was a very special thing, but witches and Others could at least admit that a lot of the time a little sacrifice was needed for anything truly worthwhile. "There will be those who won't partake. That will be their choice, just as it is my choice to do this thing. No one else will have to hear the screams of a babe being boiled alive."

"You make it sound like you care."

"I." He cleared his throat. "I do not like the sound of its cries. I cannot imagine the sound of its screams and death throes will be easier to bear." A sacrifice of his own, not that it would affect the potion, but he did not think the sound would leave him unmarred. It would be worth it though. He believed that. He always had.

Fingers grazed his cheek, and Ignis jerked his head to look up. When had Gladio moved from his seat? "Thanks for telling me." Lips pressed against his forehead and Ignis felt a little lost inside, not quite sure what to do with what was going on before him.

"You're...welcome? It wasn't really a secret." It was just he didn't brag about it and people tended not to ask. Camelia and the local council knew his intentions, but for the most part, when it came to such personal projects witches took an 'not gonna ask, not gonna tell' sort of approach until a project was successfully finished - lest it failed. Perhaps Gladio didn't know that. It was possible. "Shall we head upstairs?"

"Yeah, why don't we?"

He'd been expecting sex, but when they arrived upstairs that wasn't what he got. His clothes were removed, bit by bit, only to be replaced by the night clothes he'd hung carefully over his chair the morning before. Gladio's own attire only adjusting in that the outer layer was removed before he was drawn to bed with only kisses on his lips. When he asked, he was met with a laugh that made his face blush.

"Don't get me wrong. Fucking you is great, but tonight..." Fingers trailed against his cheek in a manner that made Ignis shudder. It almost tickled. "This is better." Their lips melded together again in something slow and patient. When they pulled apart again, Gladio groaned beneath him. "So much better."

"I would have thought you would think nothing was better than sex."

What Gladio gave him wasn't quite a laugh this time. It wasn't even a chuckle or a chortle. It was weak, amused, but soft. Sleepy perhaps. "That all depends on who you're with. I'm with you right now, and you're pretty special."

"Uh huh. I bet you say that to all the people you stay with." This was practically playing out as the same scene from the morning before, except then he hadn't had Gladio beneath his fingertips, and the air had been chilled, and the conversation had been about customers...and the response was entirely different.

"No, Iggy. I _really_ don't."

Ignis didn't really know what to do with that statement, so instead of saying anything verbally, he kissed him again. They would go on like that until sleep overtook him, apparently, because the next thing he was really aware of was waking to the sound of Noctis' cries. He gasped as he woke, and pushing himself up proved to be awkward, as he was still resting on Gladio's chest.

"I got you." A large, warm hand indeed came up to his shoulder and steadied him, and Gladio otherwise remained still while Ignis untangled himself and slid out of bed. "This happen often?"

"Only the last couple of weeks. Not always. I've been giving it a couple thimblefuls of Sopor to help it sleep just before bed." He hadn't that night. With Gladio here, he'd completely forgotten.

"Is he teething?" Behind him, Gladio was getting up as well, "He's not old enough to have all his teeth, is he?"

"I...don't know." He knew Noctis had its front teeth, but he didn't know how many more teeth it'd get or when.

"Let's try it, yeah? Save you some sleeping draught."

"What would I need?"

"Something cold? That he can chew on?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"I'll go get him out of his bed." They went their separate ways. Ignis struggled at first, trying to find something that wasn't harmful that it could chew on. Then it became obvious all at once. It didn't have to be something inedible, of course not. A chilled apple was probably ideal.

He was still peeling it when Gladio came into the kitchen with Noctis sobbing in his arms. "I need just another minute."

"That's fine." The child crying in his arms did not seem to think it was fine, but Gladio shushed it softly while Ignis continued cutting the apple. Once it was sliced into sizes it could handle putting in its mouth, Ignis released a little bit of his magic into them, causing them to chill, but hopefully not freeze. At the table he let Gladio feed the babe the apple piece by piece. Slowly, bit by tortuous bit, the child's cries died down, and he could hear Gladio cooing words of comfort at it while it shoved bit after bit into its mouth.

The next thing he was really aware of was Gladio shaking his shoulder. The room seemed hazy and thick. "Where's--"

"Nocits is back in bed." Ignis slumped back against the table in relief. He must have just fallen asleep again. "Let's get you back to bed too."

"All right." He wasn't really awake enough to argue, and he let Gladio take his hand and lead him back up the stairs to his bedroom. Both the comfort of the mattress and Gladio's arms welcomed him back to slumber, and the child's cries did not wake them again.

The next time Ignis was awake enough to be aware of anything it was light out, which meant that for autumn, it was a little later than he probably wished it to be. He couldn't find it in himself to be upset though, not when he was warm and comfortable with Gladio laying behind him. He was awake too, if the way he stiffened a little when Ignis shifted was any indication.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Not long. I didn't have the heart to get up."

They did need to get up though. It was Shiva-Tide, and that meant Prompto would be here to collect Noctis soon enough. When he mentioned that, Gladio chuckled into his shoulder. "Are you gonna want me to answer the door again?"

"No," Ignis said almost immediately. "I've," he was blushing just a little withe embarrassment. "I've gotten over that." They still weren't any closer to knowing what they were going to do with Noctis, but any animosity he'd had toward Prompto now felt like it was years ago. He didn't say it, but he was finding it easy, too easy, to like him. It was that smile combined with those freckles, he decided. They were a deadly combination. "But--" He hesitated.

"But?"

"Would you," he pressed slowly, not sure how to word it precisely, so that it was clear that he wasn't trying to trick either of them. "Be willing to talk to him? If I let him in?"

"Talk? About what?"

Ignis shifted so that they were actually facing each other. When he did so, Gladio reached up and pushed a lock of Ignis' hair out of his eyes. Momentarily, he was distracted by that, but then he settled again, and he began to explain. "I went to his home last week. He owed me payment for a Wish. I was to pick something from his wares."

Gladio whistled. "He let you in to see them?"

"...Yes. Do you know what he does?"

Beside him Gladio shrugged, shifting the blankets just enough to let some colder air in. "I have my suspicions, based on the sorts of things he buys."

"It has...stigmas attached to it."

"A lot of good things do."

"That's true," Ignis murmured into his pillow. "He's developing something. Something incredibly useful, I think. He asked if I thought he could trust you. You and Iris."

"To...what?"

"Sell it when he's finished, but he's nervous about talking to you. Since you're here--"

"It'd be convenient to just let him in and talk," Gladio supplied.

"Precisely."

"I'll talk to him," Gladio answered without hesitation. "He's a good guy."

"He...is."

"It's nice to see you getting along."

Ignis bristled a little, his skin feeling prickly, like his pride was vaguely being attacked. "I wouldn't go that far."

"I would. It's good though, Iggy. It's nice to see you're not as alone as I thought you were, when I'm not here."

Fingers trailed along his cheek, and Ignis couldn't find it in himself to be angry at the accusation that there was more to his relationship with Prompto than just cohabitation in their situation. It wasn't a bad thing, that Gladio wanted him to have a friend in Prompto. It was actually quite sweet. "What do you want for breakfast?" He asked, instead of pursuing emotions and feelings he shouldn't indulge.

"Something quick and easy," Gladio answered.

It ended up being eggs and toast with jam. At Gladio's suggestion the child got the same as them instead of its normal oatmeal and fruit. It ate happily, if messily, and by the time there was a knock at the door, Ignis had wiped its face clean three times, and was unsure of whether he'd ever get all the jam out of the table's crevices.

"You want me to get that?"

"No. You'll scare him off. I'll...coax him in."

"Okay."

Ignis made his way to the door, and managed to open it up before the second knock came. "Good morning."

"Hey!" Prompto greeted brightly. "Are you guys still eating? I can wait."

"No, that's all right. I." Ignis gave a short laugh that sounded awkward even to his own ears as he looked over his shoulder to the table where Gladio was still eating. "Gladio is here."

"Oh. Um. Cool? Congrats for you?"

Ignis pressed a hand to his face. "No. That came out wrong. It wasn't meant to sound as though I were bragging. It was." He sighed, "Why don't you come in and talk to him? About your project?"

"Oh...Oh!" Prompto blinked once and then several more times in quick succession. The motion made him seem smaller than he really was. It also made him seem frightened, and Ignis found himself inexplicably filled with the desire to protect him from it, even though he knew it was him. His proposition scared Prompto. "Um."

"It's all right." Ignis said quickly. "I've already told him you might have a business proposition for him. He's interested."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really." Ignis moved so that his spine pressed against the doorway, so that Prompto had enough room to move past him. "Won't you come in?"

Still Prompto hesitated, but Ignis waited. He waited, and it was rewarded a minute later with a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. Nervousness. "Thanks. Okay." He walked past him, and it felt as though some sort of barrier had been broken. Prompto was in his house, not even as a client, or just to collect Noctis, but under his own invitation. It felt odd, but also right as he watched the other witch approach the table, lips mumbling shy hellos to Gladio, and more open joy to seeing the babe. Noctis too seemed to brighten up at Prompto in its space. Little hands reached out, fingers flexing in a "want" motion.

Prompto laughed, and Ignis could not explain why it sounded like blissful music in his ears.

"Shall I leave you two to talk?"

"Sure, Iggy."

"Is that...okay?"

"Of course. I'll take a walk. I'll return soon." He took his cloak from by the door, and pulled on his boots quickly before he was out, the door gently shut behind him.

It was still chill out, despite the sun and Ignis soon found himself withdrawing his hands into his cloak. He was going to have to dig out his gloves soon. Was Noctis going to need winter clothing? No. Ignis shook his head at the very idea. Hopefully by the time snow was actually flying, he and Prompto would have come to an agreement about Noctis, and the child would no longer even be alive.

The idea was somehow sad.

Though he didn't need to, he stopped at the bakery and bought some bread. He was certainly capable of making bread all on his own, but he had nothing else to do while the other two talked. Besides, it was nice to not have to make your own things once in a while. It smelled divine, and he was looking forward to all the things he would make with this loaf of bread all the way home.

When he returned, loaf in hand, both of his guests were still sitting at the table. They both looked up at him at the same time, and somehow having the weight of both brown and blue eyes on him was intimidating. "Have I returned too soon?"

"Nah," Gladio answered. "We're done. Just waiting for you."

Prompto said nothing at first, he only got up out of his seat as thought he were being guided by strings. With Noctis in his arms he paused by Ignis, one hand hesitantly coming up and beckoning him to lean down. Mildly confused, Ignis did, "Yes, what is it?"

In front of him, Prompto pushed himself up a little, and Ignis thought Prompto was going to whisper something into his ear. He did, but not before pressing his lips against his cheek. "Thanks," was mumbled so softly that Ignis very nearly didn't catch it before Prompto was gone out the door, with it closed behind him. Ignis himself was left baffled, hand up over the spot those lips had touched. From his seat, Gladio was laughing.

"I. I take it it went well then?"

"Yeah," Gladio assured him. "He's got a great idea. I'd be happy to help him sell it to other towns. It won't even have to take up space in my inventory. Prompto says he'll fuel it, and it'll just come along with me itself. I've got nothing to lose."

"Well then," Ignis said as he slid back into his chair, still feeling quite befuddled, "All's well that ends well, I suppose."

"Ignis?" Gladio asked as Ignis picked up his abandoned, now cold, cup of brew.

"Yes?" He let his fingers tap against the side of the cup, he used small sparks of heat to try and heat it up to an acceptable temperature. A waste of magic, probably, but it was his magic, and so that was all right.

"Let me know when you and Prompto start fucking."

It was a lucky thing that Ignis had not started to drink yet. As it was it felt like he nearly swallowed his tongue. "Excuse me?!"

Across the table, Gladio shrugged at him, a grin on his face that Ignis rather wanted to slap off of it. "It's only a matter of time. I'm not gonna be jealous. It's not like you're my one and only. I can't expect you to hold the same standards. I'd just like to know when it starts."

"I hardly think one kiss on the cheek is grounds for thinking we're going to sleep together, Gladio."

"You'll see," Gladio promised him with another shrug, that smirk still firmly on his face. "It's only a matter of time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DEVOTIONS :
> 
> Most witches start actually being able to use magic at about the age of five, and, naturally, this is about the time that young witches are introduced to schooling for their magic, both for control and range. There is no such thing as an actual school, children are taught at home by parents/guardians, most of the time, though, on occasion a tutor may be brought in for a more professional touch.
> 
> It's about another five years before young witches are considered minimally proficient at magic, but once they are they start to focus more on their future devotion, and general knowledge/practice becomes the second priority. A devotion is really just another word for profession or skillset, and they commonly run in families, such as Ignis coming from a long line of brewers.
> 
> This needn't always be the case though, if a witch child shows a great amount of proficiency or interest in another devotion a witch outside the family may take a child on as an apprentice. Such arrangements vary from case to case, but their is usually some money exchanged, and the child often goes to live with their master.
> 
> Training is different for all, and the same is said of when the witch is mature and learned. Many witches choose to leave their hometown and settle their roots in a new town, but just as many stay in their hometown all their lives, carrying on the legacy they learned close to their childhood hearts, but all witches consider learning a lifelong project, and continue to learn about basic magic all their lives. It's their survival skill.
> 
> Your basic devotions are the ones you might expect, brewer, healer, charm weaver, weather worker, etc. Things like baking, smith work, and gardening are devotions too, as magic can easily be attuned to all these things. As started in a previous chapter, tinkering and alchemy are considered "new age" devotions, and though they can be very useful, they are often looked down upon, especially the further away from large human cities you get. Necromancy is considered unnatural and evil. It is forbidden.
> 
> Very rarely a witch will only be proficient in one thing, but when this happens they are incredibly skilled at this one thing. On the opposite side of the scale, though some older witches may pick up a second devotion later in life, it's not considered a common or necessarily good thing to devote yourself to more than one thing. Devotions are supposed to be exactly that - a life devotion to one skill, and anything else is meant to be little more than a hobby.


	9. In Which a Nameday is Celebrated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday! <3
> 
> This week's notes will be about the term "The One."
> 
> Please enjoy! <333333

Though Ignis was up, it was still dark outside when the banging on his door started. He couldn't imagine who it was be, so anyone would have been surprising, but when he opened it up to find Cindy standing there with Noctis by her side, it was doubly surprising. "Good morning," he attempted politely, but knew that he had failed miserably to keep the curiosity out of his tone.

Noctis, who had previously been holding onto Cindy's hand, ran into his knees clumsily, arms wrapped around them in what Ignis could only call a hug. It was walking much better now than it had been when it had come to them. It might have been something akin to cute, if it weren't a reminder that the child was growing quickly, and all too soon they would run out of time to use it. "Daaaaaa." It breathed into his leg, and Ignis sighed.

"I am not your father."

"It's okay, he calls Prom that too."

"This is the first time I've heard it." Of course, since the beginning, Noctis had talked more to Prompto. With him the child only seemed to cry, scream, or laugh to get its point across, almost as though it knew that Prompto was the nicer one between them.

He left the child hugging his knees, breathing into his leg and turned his attention back to Cindy. "It's not Shiva-Tide. It's not time for me to get the child."

"Congrats," Cindy said in a sarcastic tone that made Ignis feel a little pride, despite the fact that it was directed at him. "You can officially tell the days of the week apart." Ignis snorted, and she went on. "I'm not here about Noctis. Taking him for a walk was just a good excuse."

"Then why are you here? I know you're not overfond of me."

"Nope, but Prom is." Cindy sighed, a gloved hand running up through her hair. Today her clothes were clear of grease. Perhaps because it was cold, or just perhaps because it was early, and she hadn't started work yet. "Prom's nameday is next Ramuh-Tide." So Prompto had been named in the month of the Warrior. That seemed odd to Ignis. He didn't seem much like a warrior. "I want you to be a part of it."

"Are you sure?" Namedays were supposed to be filled with people you were close to. Their relationship wasn't filled with animosity anymore, but that didn't mean that they were close.

Cindy was nodding her head. "Yep. I'm positive. If you run into Gladio between now and then you can invite him too. It'd probably be the biggest bash he's ever had." Well. That. Was...Sad. Three people. Ignis couldn't claim to have had a huge nameday celebration, but three people was paltry, even to him.

"What do I need to bring?"

"Can you bake?"

"Cindy, I'm a brewer. I'd be a laughing stock if I couldn't bake."

"Great. Then yer on cake duty."

That wasn't surprising, neither Cindy nor Prompto seemed to be the type that spent a lot of time cooking or baking. For Ignis, making a nameday cake would practically be a leisure activity, something he could certainly do in between other tasks. He made a mental note to make it a very nice cake, to make up for the lack of people. "When should I arrive?"

"Whenever you want. Just bring cake."

"Wonderful. Anything else?"

"Nope. I'll see you on Ramuh-Tide." She patted her thigh, "Come on, Noctis. Time to go back." The child gave a loud whine, its little hands clinging all the more tightly to his pant leg. "Noctis, it's not time to stay with Ignis yet." It only rubbed its face against him in a no motion, and Ignis sighed.

"Here." He picked the child up, which he swore was getting bigger and heavier each time he did it. He placed it into Cindy's waiting arms.

"Nuuhhhhhhhhh!" It cried.

"I'll see you on Shiva-Tide. Be good."

"Nuh!"

Before it could raise more of a fuss, he went back into side his home and shut the door. For a little while he went about his day as normal, but before long he found himself sitting down at his table, trying to plan out precisely the cake he was going to make. Several days went on like that. Even when Titan-Tide arrived, Ignis was thinking about the things he could buy from the market to make the flavor better. His hopes were raised exponentially when he saw who was there. It wasn't Gladio. It was Iris.

"It's been a while since I've seen you," he said as he greeted with a nod of his head.

"Same!" Iris piped up with that grin on her face. That grin must have been a family trait, Ignis thought. He'd seen it too many times on Gladio's own face for it to not be. Though they shared similar skin, eye, and hair colors, Iris was a tiny wisp of a thing where her brother was bigger and bulkier. Still, there was no denying the relation, not when she smiled like that. "I've heard lots about you though from Gladdy."

"Really? He talks about me?"

"He's like a teenage girl," she teased. "He won't shut up."

"Come now, I'm sure--"

"No. Really. Ignis. You've got your hooks in him now. It's good though. To see Gladdy actually get attached to someone."

"Then I shan't complain." He was feeling a bit flustered though. Was this was Prompto felt like every time he even saw him? A fluttering in both his stomach and chest? If it was, then he couldn't blame him for the reluctance to talk to him. It made it hard to even breathe. "How are you?"

"Good! ...Better." She huffed. "I got stuck up north for a bit."

"Why?"

"Men," she whined. "Why is it that you say one nice thing to a guy, and they then think they own you?"

Ignis grinned. It was amusing to be whined at about men when he was, in fact, a man. "Because they're men? Human men, I'm assuming."

"Well, _duh_. Witch men know better. Or at least know a woman will leave their ass."

"Something like that, yes. It's also perhaps the longevity, as well as a difference in our societal ideologies." There were so many things that made them different. So many things that made human men in particular think they had power over all things when really the very opposite was true. "At any rate, I'm glad you got away."

"I would have gotten away much faster if murder weren't illegal." She paused. "And if I hadn't wanted to maintain the business relationship with the town."

"Something tells me you'll be avoiding that town for a bit anyway."

"Damn right." She introduced some of her wares then, and Ignis quickly found that she had exactly what he needed. "Chocolate?" He said as he tapped the carefully wrapped item. "That's a pretty penny."

"I need it for a nameday cake."

"Oh! Exciting! Whose?"

"Prompto Argentum's, and speaking of that, if you run into your brother in the next couple of days, would you inform him that he's been invited to said nameday? It's on Ramuh-Tide."

"Awww," she groaned. "I'm definitely not going to run into him in time, but I could come instead, if that'd be acceptable? I can stick around for a couple days!"

Ignis thought about it. It wasn't very traditional, and Ignis had zero idea how close Iris and Prompto were, and yet Cindy's words niggled in his brain. That with Gladio there it would probably be the biggest nameday celebration Prompto had ever had. Three people, four, if you counted the child. It was still a thing that struck him as so very sad. Prompto deserved a good nameday, and four people was entirely too few, less than that was practically unacceptable.

"All right," he said at length, "But you must bring a gift, of course."

"Will do!" Iris grinned, and she shoved the chocolate across the table. "And just take it! My contribution!"

"My thanks." He picked it up gingerly, as though it might burst into a million pieces if he handled it incorrectly. It felt odd though. This was the second thing he was getting practically for free from the siblings. It didn't quite feel right. "You may stay at my place until the day of, if you've no where else to go?" It seemed like the only proper choice he had. If she didn't want money, offer her something else she might find valuable.

"If I don't get busy, I might take you up on it! I'll knock! For sure!"

"I'll keep an ear out."

In the end, she didn't end up at his place to stay the night, but on Ramuh-Tide he found her waiting outside his doorway with a parcel in her hands wrapped up with a delicate bow. When she saw his face through the window she grinned and waved. Ignis opened the door. "You're a little early."

"I just wanted to be prepared! I mean, namedays start early, so I didn't really know how early you'd be going over?"

"I was thinking early," Ignis began as he closed the door behind her. "But at least after dawn late. I'm sure they have morning rituals of their own."

"Probably!" She agreed jovially, and Ignis smiled. She certainly knew how to keep the mood up, didn't she? She was also helpful with the babe. Like her brother, she seemed to like children in general and asked to feed and dress him. She cooed at his cake, and sat patiently waiting for him to properly package it up. She even offered to carry it, but Ignis shook his head.

"I have other things that if you could carry them would be helpful." Those things wouldn't be completely ruined if they were dropped, and Ignis truthfully had no idea how graceful Iris was.

"What kinds of other things?"

"Flour, sugar, leavening, eggs, butter. A few other cooking and baking staples as well."

"Why those things?" The way her lips twisted in confusion was rather adorable, and Ignis spared her a smile.

"The way it was portrayed to me the other day, I got the impression that neither sibling is particularly proficient at cooking. One is supposed to only ingest sweets on one's nameday. I thought it might be a relief to put me in charge of that."

Iris was quiet for a minute before she said, very softly, "Gladdy was right, you're a lot nicer than you let on."

Though the words made his cheeks feel warm, Ignis' reply was quick. "Don't tell anyone."

Her smile in return was so bright that it made her eyes almost close. "Your secret's safe with me."

Though Noctis was getting better and better walking, Ignis thought that it was probably still a bit far for it to talk on its own steam, and the babe ended up strapped to Iris' back, where it settled quite happily. Ignis thought that with Noctis, the bag of supplies, and her own gift, it might be a little heavy for her, but there was no struggle in her pace, no sign of strain as she easily kept up with him. She was certainly stronger than she appeared. Perhaps strength was just part of "what they were" as Gladio would put it. Whatever they were. He tried not to dwell on it.

When they finally arrived in front of the Aurum-Argentum house, Iris seemed to just vibrate with excitement, and the child seemed to feed off of it, making small sputtering noises, that made Ignis shake his head. Ignis knocked.

The door opened almost immediately. Cindy was the one behind it, her green eyes a little wide. "Y'all are a little early." She made no comment on the fact that Iris and Gladio weren't the same person, and Ignis counted that as a good thing. He was pretty sure Iris would have begged to stay. He didn't want to hear her beg.

"A little early is best if breakfast is going to be ready by the time Prompto wakes up." An eyebrow raised up, and Ignis smiled at her in return. "Unless you already had a plan for breakfast?"

"I was just gonna head on down to the bakery in a second here and get some muffins."

"Then I have arrived just in time. I'll make pancakes."

The look of surprise on Cindy's face was priceless, but she stepped aside and motioned them inside with a wave of her hand. Iris pranced in first, perhaps afraid that if Ignis went first, the door would be shut on her. Ignis went second, only to be stopped short when Cindy caught his elbow. "Yes?"

"Maybe," she said, with a determined, yet absurdly stubborn expression. "Maybe you're not so bad."

"Maybe?"

"Maybe."

"I'll take maybe." She released his arm, and then she led them both through her maze of amazing gadgets into the area he'd seen her walk off into before. He'd been right, it was a kitchen area, smaller and more enclosed than his own. Though it seemed to be fully stocked with very nice utensils, the actual food stocks seemed to be mostly of things that could be eaten as they were, or things that were difficult to completely ruin when cooking. No, there was definitely not a great deal of cooking done here. At least for today that would change.

While he settled in to cook, Cindy and Iris talked at the table, and the child ran around between the three of them tugging at loose cloth to get their attention. Eventually, after nearly tripping Ignis, Cindy put Noctis in her lap, where the child remained fairly happily until Ignis was pouring pancakes, and that became the most interesting thing, and it had to watch.

Prompto stumbled into the kitchen just as he was going to start the second batch, and Ignis thought he'd always remember that moment. He stumbled in with a question half formed on is lips, but then, upon actually seeing the kitchen he fell silent, very blue eyes wide and befuddled for a second before Iris burst forth with - "Happy nameday!" Then there was the grin. It was a look of joy and happiness that threatened to spill over into tears. He could see it. The happy sort of tears that people were always embarrassed to cry, but were so much more precious because they were literally joy in liquid form. Ignis knew, because tears of joy were a prized and powerful potion ingredient, not that he had any inclination to ask Prompto to gather them. No, instead he was focused on the swell in his heart at that expression.

Prompto was happy, and that somehow made Ignis happy in turn.

"Does pancakes sound like a good nameday breakfast?"

"Sounds. Amazing." Prompto's voice was all soft hics as he sat down at the table. Noctis' little hands reached for him. With a soft sob, Prompto hefted the child into his lap, and his face all but disappeared into that black hair. Ignis suspected everyone knew he was crying onto Noctis' hair, but no one called him out on it.

Ignis spent most of the day in the kitchen. After breakfast, Iris dragged both Cindy and Prompto out somewhere, which was fine with Ignis, if they were being completely honest. It sounded like she'd come up with some sort of a mini adventure for them, and that wasn't really Ignis' idea of fun. He was fine staying here, making sure the dishes were washed and that the parfaits he made for lunch were ready when they returned. He wasn't worried about dinner, cake would suffice there, but he did have enough ingredients to make muffins that would last them for several days, a lingering reminder that would suit quite nicely.

He couldn't hear the door open, but he knew they had returned by the boundless babbling of several voices, and he felt his heart warm in his chest again. It was the same sort of feeling he got when Gladio was in his house. Full and good. Like something he hadn't even known was missing in his life was there.

"We saw a river!" Prompto said, poking his head in the kitchen. "And we got rocks!" Ignis found the enthusiasm sweet and endearing, even if he couldn't quite grasp what would be so fascinating about rocks to a man who practiced alchemy and tinkering. "I brought you some! If you want!"

"You didn't have to."

For Prompto that was enough encouragement to come fully into the room, his hands filled with what Ignis assumed were the rocks in question. Rather than try and put the dirty things on his counter (smart man) he let them tumble from his hands onto the table. Trembling red fingers picked out several from the group and slid them in Ignis' direction. "These ones!"

Ignis looked. They were green with brown streaks, smoothed by the flow of the river. "Do you like them?"

"They're beautiful." They weren't emeralds or anything of the sort, but that didn't mean they weren't beautiful.

"They reminded me of you." The words were spoken so softly that Ignis almost didn't catch them, in fact he looked up and opened his mouth to ask what he'd said. The words died on his lips as he saw Prompto's face up close. It was his normal face, of course, but it was flushed with cold, particularly his cheeks and nose. It made his freckles, the ones Ignis now found so very lovely, stand out on his face. Even his eyes seemed bluer, and his hair was mussed from the wind outside.

That moment was to be the very first moment that Ignis knew for a fact that he wanted to kiss Prompto.

He swallowed the feeling down. "Of me?"

"Yeah! Like," Prompto ducked his head down shyly. "Like your eyes."

Heat spread across his face and when Ignis looked back down at the rocks he found that yes indeed they were a similar color, deep with the brown veins that made it not quite pure. What else could he say to that except - "Thank you." Gently he picked them up. "I'll find a place to display them at home." Hopefully a place where Noctis wouldn't get to and try and swallow them.

They ate the parfaits shortly after that, and the day proceeded in a sort of tedium. It wasn't so much that the day was bad or boring, but more...uneventful. He made the muffins, and moved onto simply trying to make anything edible he could that would last the two siblings longer than a day. Cindy and Prompto gave Iris a tour of the house, bit by bit, Ignis suspected, by how long it took. They played with Noctis, keeping it busy and out of Ignis' hair, he knew because he could hear the child's squealing laughter from time to time.

By the time Ignis was starting to feel peckish again he'd made muffins, bread, and two savory dishes that needed only to be heated in the oven before eating. That was satisfactory, he thought.

"Who's ready for cake?"

"Can we open gifts first?!"

Ignis smiled at Iris' excitement. That was true. They hadn't opened them yet, had they? "That's not really up to me, now is it?"

"Oh! Can we, Prompto? Please?"

"You guys got me gifts?" Oh, how sad and sweet everything about that was, and internally Ignis sighed.

"Of course we did! It's your nameday!"

"Yeah? Okay. Let's. Uh. Yeah. Let's open gifts first."

"Yes!" Iris jumped up from her seat on the couch Ignis swore had not been there the first time he'd been in the house and practically flew past him into the kitchen to grab her gift. When she came back up to his side a second later he found that she also had his gift in her hand, which she passed off to him in a gentle fashion that was completely opposite to her energetic state of being.

Cindy's gift was opened first, a set of golden tools that Ignis assumed could be used in tinkering. Prompto naturally loved them to bits. He said they were "perfect" and "exactly what he needed." Iris' gift was as large as the package it had been in, a large stuffed yellow thing that Ignis suspected was meant to be a bird. It was far from perfect looking, but it was clear that she had made it herself, and when Prompto held it close to his chest those tears of joy were sparkling in his eyes again.

He came last, "It's nothing much," he said as he passed over his gift, and Prompto began to pull at the string that kept the wrappings together. "But I hope you'll find it useful."

When the wrappings came off of it, Prompto was left holding a crystal vial that Ignis remembered filling just the day before. The liquid inside was as golden as Prompto's hair, and even with the stopper securely placed it bubbled a little. "What is it?"

"Pure Fortuna," Ignis answered. "You've had sweets all day, so your next year should be sweet and fruitful, but we could all use a little extra luck now and then." There ought to be enough in that vial for a swallow a season. That was as much luck as anyone ought to need short of a life threatening event.

"Thank you," Prompto mumbled, those tears in his eyes yet again. "It's wonderful."

Ignis couldn't take the force of that stare any longer, so he turned away. "I'll get us cake then, yes?"

"That's be great. Thanks, Ignis."

Ignis retreated into what felt like his territory and got down plates and forks for eating, and a knife for cutting the cake. When he turned back around he found Prompto lingering by the table, where the cake box had been sitting all day. "I want to see it," he explained softly. "Whole."

"It's nothing much, just cake."

"Still."

"All right." Ignis sat the things down on the counter and unfolded the box from around the cake. "There. Better?"

"I. Uh. You said it was just cake."

"It is, Prompto."

"That. Is not just cake." He twisted his head around as though that could give him a better look at it. Truly, Ignis didn't understand. Yes, all right, he had perhaps spent a little bit of time decorating at the cake, but it was nothing spectacular. It wasn't covered in flowers or other sculpture pieces. It was simply a golden butter cake with chocolate frosting and swirling lines in a lighter colored frosting that he had hoped would look silver, to match Prompto's name. The effect had truly not quite come out as he had wanted, but he'd had no time to redo it. At least its intended recipient seemed to like it. "It's amazing."

"Nonsense, you could do this too, if you had practice."

"Ig - Ignis, I burn water."

Ignis chuckled, an old joke, but still an amusing one. "You do know that's physically impossible, correct?"

"And yet I still manage it." Ignis clucked his tongue, and Prompto moved away so that Ignis could cut the cake. "Can I help you carry plates out?"

"It's your nameday. No working."

"Not work! It's helping you serve so I can eat cake faster."

He chuckled again. "Well, when you put it that way--" he gestured toward the two plates he'd already filled with slices of cake. "Be my guest." Nearly as soon as the words were out of his mouth the plates were up in Prompto's hands and he was out of the room, leaving Ignis with only three plates to carry. That was an easy feat.

While they ate cake, Prompto and Iris tried to teach Noctis the nameday song, which only resulted in Noctis smashing cake in its hands. Ignis sighed over it, but found he wasn't really upset about it. He was simply going through the motions that he was used to. How? How could he be upset about anything when he felt so...content? He was tired too, but he was lazily content, and surrounded by people who didn't bother him. Even the child's presence didn't bother him right that moment, as it ran about slapping its filthy hands on everyone's plate as Iris gave chase with a washcloth.

"It's gettin' late." Ignis was startled into full awareness by Cindy slipping his plate out of his hand. When had he started falling asleep? "Why don't you show them out, Prom?"

"Got it!"

Just like that morning, Iris left first, after hugs and excited exclamations of new closer friendship. "Gladdy will get you a gift too!" He heard her promise. "I'll make sure!"

"He-he doesn't have to." She said goodbye to Ignis as well, and was gone before he had Noctis in its harness on his back.

Once the child was properly positioned hands slid into his own, and Ignis was startled to find that Prompto had slipped into his personal space without his realizing it. "Thank you."

"Come now, I didn't really do much, Prompto. I cooked, but it was Cindy who arranged for people to be here, and it was Iris you went and enjoyed time with."

"No." Prompto tugged at their joined hands. "That's not true. You did. So much more than you know. Today was the best. Really. It couldn't have been even close without you." Those hands released his own, only to wrap around his waist. It was a little awkward, with the child there, but Ignis returned it, hand patting at Prompto's back equally awkwardly before he pulled back. He didn't know what to do with it - the physical affection. It only made him want to kiss Prompto again. Not a good idea.

"I'm glad you had a good nameday."

"The best, Ignis. It was the best."

Ignis didn't bother to try and correct him when he wore that smile. When he wore that smile, Ignis believed that it was true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The One:
> 
> The concept of having a soulmate is largely a human thing, and other Others tend to regard the witches belief in their "one" as a leftover bit of human society in their bones. And, at its core, that's all a witch's one is - their soulmate.
> 
> The actual myth behind the phrase describes witches as being fairly emotionless creatures, and that they only have enough love inside themselves to give to one person throughout their entire lives, which even the most devout of believers in their one tends to not believe.
> 
> Actively searching for one's one is considered a very young thing to do in that it's distracting, irresponsible, and often leads to an incorrect result. Think of teenage girls fawning over boy bands and how adults often react to that, and that's how most react to hearing that a younger witch is seeking their one.
> 
> Most witches do apply the term to someone throughout their lives though, often several someones even. Older witches say that witches actually have one "one" per century, or one human lifetime, and that the term is meant more for someone who's life will be forever tangled in yours. Some even say the term can apply to an enemy as much as someone you love.
> 
> Women are more likely to apply to term to someone not of a romantic quality to them, children, more of than not. Children are considered incredibly precious, and most witches will commonly only have one in their lifetimes, two if they are lucky, and three if they are truly blessed by the gods.
> 
> It's considered bad form to refer to a romantic one by that title in public. It creates a vulnerability that witches don't like to see, in the same sort of way that Ignis talks about not talking a great deal about personal projects until they are finished. Children and friends people are fairly certain about, but you had better be absolutely positive a romantic partner is there to stay before you refer to them as your one.
> 
> In return, the loss of a one, no matter what they were to you, is considered devastating and permanently damaging. It is also tends to greatly lower your status among townsfolk, as losing them is usually seen as failing to protect/save them, and then further, refusing to follow them into the After. Many who lose a One tend to move to a different town shortly after.


	10. In Which There is a New Invention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> Since I am a lazy person, this chapter's notes are only going to be the order of Months in the year, the season(s) that fall in them, and what months Gladio, Ignis, Prompto, and Noctis' namedays fall in.
> 
> Please enjoy! <3

It seemed like it might snow any day now. The Month of the Oracle had swept in like a storm, and where the nights had been chill and the days pleasant, if not warm, before it seemed that they would be biting cold the whole way through. There was no doubt now that winter would come at it's earliest point this year, and there was no doubt that it would also leave at it's latest point next year - well after Ignis' own nameday. In earlier times, when food had been more scarce, this would have been the kind of winter where some people in the outer reaches of town might have starved to death before spring came. Luckily, Ignis had never known those times, the laws about witch hunting had made them so much more prosperous long before Ignis was born.

Now if only they'd actually make the burning illegal. Ignis wasn't holding his breath.

He also wasn't holding his breath for the child to actually stand still while he pulled another layer over its head. It had avoided him three times so far, as he had half a mind to simply shove the child under his arm like a book and just carry him, whether it was cold outside or not. "Come here, Noctis." He tried to coax the child out from behind the chair it was using as its shield. "You need to put this sweater on so we can go out."

"Wher?" It was becoming more and more obvious to Ignis that the child knew what he was saying. He didn't know if it had better talking skills with Prompto, but as time continued to pass it was talking to him more and more. Its vocabulary was paltry, its pronunciation of things execrable. Still, they could have something akin to rudimentary conversations this way. It was an improvement, even if the child seemed to be acting out more and more the more it talked.

'Wher' was clearly supposed to be "Where are we going?" and Ignis supposed that wasn't an unreasonable question to ask. "We're going to Prompto's house." His very name was enough to cause warm to flare up inside Ignis' chest at this point. Shameful as it was, his affections for the younger witch had only grown since his nameday nearly a month ago now.

The answer resulted in a shriek that wasn't quite a scream, but was at the same time clearly quite pleased. Noctis screeched and ran right at him, bouncing a little on its feet, arms held up above its head. Heading over to Prompto's house was apparently a very good answer to it too. Excellent. Ignis shoved the sweater up and over its head, and then they made their way on out of the house.

The walk to the Aurum-Argentum household was still a bit of a long ways for Noctis to walk, especially in the chill, and so Ignis made sure to keep an eye on it. It made it about halfway there before it started to huff and fall behind, and that was when Ignis simply scooped it up in his arms. It didn't complain, though it giggled a little, before resting its head on his shoulder. It was getting entirely too comfortable with them. Truly.

When they got there, Cindy opened the door, as was typical. Ignis was figuring out more and more that Prompto didn't spend a lot of time downstairs at all, except perhaps in the kitchen to eat and talk to his sister. Downstairs was really Cindy's domain all by itself, and thus if Prompto answered the door it was probably concerning. "Mornin'," she greeted him in a tone that Ignis wouldn't call warm, but was perhaps a thousand times more friendly than she had been before Prompto's nameday. "He's upstairs."

"Thank you."

"Make sure he goes to bed before you skedaddle, 'kay?"

"I can be persuasive."

"I'm sure you can." She closed the door behind him and disappeared into her area, leaving Ignis on his own to find his way up, child still on his hip. Honestly, that was fine, he'd been in the house often enough by this point that he could navigate his way from point A to B without trouble. All bets were off if he strayed into some of her projects, but from the door he could get to the sitting area, the kitchen, and the stairs on his own.

By the time he was at the top of the stairs though, the child had grown heavy in his arms and he sat it down, only for it to immediately toddle off in Prompto's direction. "Hey there, Buddy!" Prompto greeted with those tired eyes that confirmed what Cindy had suggested - Prompto had stayed up all night again. "Hey there," he repeated in a softer tone that made Ignis' heart hammer in his chest. "Iggy."

The nickname was new, though Ignis wasn't sure precisely when he'd started using it. It was the same nickname Gladio used for him when they were alone, and that made it not unwelcome but new from Prompto's lips. Surely within the last couple of times they'd interacted. He wasn't going to stop him, even if he'd wanted to. Iggy was just a nickname for him, almost anyone familiar enough with him would probably start using it eventually. His own parents probably would have used it, had they lived long enough. He was pretty sure he even remembered his uncle using it, when he felt fond enough.

"Good morning, Prompto."

Already Prompto had Noctis in his lap, the very picture of the domesticity Ignis had pushed off as ridiculous and unwanted barely a season ago. Now he yearned for it. He hated that - that he yearned for something he knew he shouldn't pursue - just a little. "Are you here to check up on your Thing?"

His Thing, that was what called his payment, the payment for the Wish he'd answered what felt like an eternity ago now. Ignis nodded, even though that was really just an excuse. The reality was he wanted to see Prompto, and "checking in" on progress was a good excuse. The other good excuse was discussing what they were to do with Noctis. Though really, that oughtn't be an excuse. They truly did need to decide. Perhaps after this, but before he made Prompto head to bed.

"Okay!" Noctis complained about being put down, but Prompto dutifully ignored him in favor of getting up and getting a contraption down from the top shelf of his case. Like all of Prompto's creations it was silver in color, and was filled with glass or crystal vials. It looked like a rather large spice caddy. He raised an eyebrow at Prompto, who withered under it. "Just. Hear me out, okay?"

"I'm listening."

"So, yeah, it looks ordinary, but I bet you have just like, a ton of spices and ingredients. Yeah?"

"I do indeed."

"So, I'm probably gonna add a couple more layers to this. Enough to hold all the things you've got, but first I've to make it work."

Ignis tilted his head a little. "What is it supposed to do? Beyond the obvious."

"Okay! So! It's a spice rack, and," he tapped the top turner, which Ignis noticed was also a crystal. "You fuel it with a bit of magic." With a couple more taps of his hand, Ignis could only assume that he had done just that. "And then, after you've filled your vials with stuff and put them in their proper spots you just have to ask it for the ingredient you're looking for, like rosemary, and it'll spin around and offer you that ingredient! No stress! No time wasted! Just boom! In. Theory. Anyway."

"Why only in theory?"

"Well," Prompto began before there was a small crash behind them quickly followed by Noctis' giggles. "Not looking, not caring," Prompto mumbled before he continued on. "Right now, it doesn't do that. When you ask it for...whatever, it just spins around really fast and then spits all the vials out at you, and then it's a game of thirty-two vial pick up. No one likes playing thirty-two vial pick up."

Ignis snorted. "I imagine not, no."

"So, sorry, but it's not ready yet."

"It's all right," Ignis made what was for him a rather bold move and placed his hand on Prompto's shoulder. He only let it linger for a moment before he gave that shoulder a squeeze and let his hand drop again. "I said before that I'm in no rush to be paid, and I think this is probably an ideal contraption."

"Yeah?"

Ignis nodded his head earnestly. "It's not something life changing, but it's something that would support me at home - make it a little easier. That's what I did for you, when I granted your Wish. I made it easier. It's a fair trade."

"Then I suppose that's good. I'll...feel better to have the deal completed."

Well, that was certainly something Ignis could relate to. Having something open ended was never pleasant. Things were better off defined, closed, shut, and complete. Still he said, "Don't rush it, I'm sure it'll be perfect when it's complete."

"Thanks."

"So how's the dog project going?"

"Uhh, ahhh..." Prompto turned away from him, in the direction the crash had emanated from a minute before, "Sort of the same?" When Ignis turned around too he found that Noctis had pulled what looked like a small mechanical bird from its perch three shelves up. It was on the floor, little legs twitching, wildly, and that was what Ignis supposed the child had probably been giggling at. Prompto scooped it up, and with a couple little taps of his finger it stopped moving at all. He placed it idly on the shelf before he pulled out the dog. It was definitely a dog now, complete with ears that looked like they'd even be floppy if they weren't made of metal.

It took more than a couple of taps to get the dog moving. Its movements were jerky and artificial seeming. Though Prompto gave it several commands, all it did was circle the room as though it were trying to herd something, and it quickly ran out of energy and simply stopped where it was, mid-stride. "Can you fix that?"

"Yeah? I mean, pretty sure. It's gonna take some time though. I'm kind of hoping that if I figure out what's wrong with one of them--"

"That'll the same treatment will fix the other."

"Yeah." Prompto paused, nervously shifting his weight between his feet. Don't be nervous, Ignis wanted to tell him. He didn't have to be nervous about him. Not anymore. "I, uh, also need to find a better conduit for holding energy on the dog. Or to make it more efficient? Both?" Prompto sighed. "It's...gonna be a while before I can get Iris and Gladio to try and sell them."

"They'll wait."

"I hope so."

"Any other special projects you've been working on?"

The question got him the reaction he'd been hoping for. Blue eyes sparkled back to life as he half-jogged over to his worktable. "Yeah, actually!" The thing he picked up from it looked like it was just a box. Well, perhaps that wasn't completely accurate. It was a box with a small round window on one side, the side Prompto was pointing toward him.

He raised the box to his face and then froze as though horrified. "Where's Noct?"

Ignis raised an eyebrow. Noct could only mean Noctis, but this too was a nickname that was new. Ignoring the nickname for now, he dutifully looked around, and, not having found the child in the immediate vicinity, he stuck his head into the only doorway nearby, where he found the child climbing up onto a small, and horridly plain bed. It had to be Prompto's, devoid of any quilts or personal touches. He didn't like it, but the child did, flopping back onto it with a happy sigh, "Daaaaaa."

"He's in here."

"Okay. That's okay. Come back?"

"Gladly." He drew away from the doorway. "Anything else I should do?"

"Nope! Just stand there."

That was perhaps the easiest task he'd ever truly been given, and as such it was easy to stand as that little odd box was aimed at him. It was only later that it might occur to him that he ought to have asked what that box did. He should have been suspicious. Instead he'd been completely trusting. It wasn't like him. It didn't harm him, beyond the fact that seemingly out of nowhere there was a flash of light that blinded him for several seconds.

He heard Prompto say, "Oh! That one looks like it came out great!" while he pressed his palms into his eyes, rubbing them. Even afterward there seemed to be bright blotches of color, as his eyes seemed to readjust to...whatever had just happened. Something, Prompto he realized a second later, pressed up against his side, and he looked down as he was shown a small metal square that had...himself on it.

It wasn't quite the version of himself he saw in the mirror at home. There was something...bolder about it. His eyes were greener, his skin fairer, a smile that was too kindly to be his own. Still, it was recognizably him, if a bit idealized. "What is it?" It wasn't a painting, obviously. "Did it come from that box?"

"Yeah! Isn't it great? No more having to sit down for hours and hours and suffer through being painted."

"That's a rather rich stuffy human thing, isn't it?"

"Witch families get it a lot too. Cindy and I did it once, when we were younger."

"I see," Ignis smiled, trying to imagine a version of Prompto that could sit still long enough to have a portrait painted. He did not imagine that it had been easy for him. "Is this a commission for a Wish?"

Prompto nodded, "Yeah, but..."

"But?"

"I don't think I'm going to be able to hand it over. Not for long time, anyway."

"No? Why ever not? This looks great."

Prompto made a pained sound. "So. You see." He drew away from Ignis' side, leaving a cold spot there that made Ignis want to do nothing more than pull him back. He didn't. Instead he followed him to his worktable, where Prompto pulled out several more small sheets of metal with people on them, as well as three small bottles filled with a silvery, glowing liquid inside of them. "I tried it out on Cindy first." The sheet of paper that held her likeness was much as Ignis saw her, bright colors of hair and eyes, with a smile that wasn't quite a smirk. In the picture she had a streak of grease on her face, and her hands were held up in a sort of greeting motion. "Nothing bad happened, yeah?"

"Right." Nothing bad had really happened to him either, though the world around him still seemed a little too bright. That was just the flash of light though, and it got a little better with every second that passed.

"So I thought I'd been successful, and I took it over to be delivered and demonstrate how it worked."

"All right?"

"And...apparently it handles humans a lot differently." The images on the other three bits of metal he had were of people Ignis didn't know, but when he looked closer at them, he had to admit that he was pretty sure most people didn't have pure blank white eyes.

"What happened?"

"I'm not. Exactly. Sure?" Prompto coughed a little bit in embarrassment. "But in taking the picture it, uh, severed their souls from their bodies." Prompto gently placed his hand over the tops of the small bottles with the silvery fluid inside. "And I haven't figured out how to put it back yet."

"You managed to liquefy the soul and put it in a bottle, but not back inside the person?"

"...Yeah? D-don't laugh!" It was too late, Ignis was laughing, and Prompto's face was bright red and hidden behind his hands. "Stop it!" He whined. "I panicked! I was lucky the alchemy worked!"

Oh, it was cruel of him to laugh, wasn't it? Yet he still couldn't stop himself from chortling. He allowed that only for a second or two before he went onward. "Since it is a liquid, do you think they could simply ingest it?"

Prompto quickly shook his head. "I'm afraid that the stomach would simply devour it like it devours anything we eat, and the same with injection. There's stuff in our blood that attacks things like illness and infection, so I'm afraid--"

"Whatever that is would also attack the soul as an outside force."

"Yeah."

"And you're determined to get these people their souls back?" Ignis wasn't really so sure that this was wholly a bad thing? What could one do with the full force of a soul? He was a little curious.

Slowly Prompto nodded this time. A tad disappointing. "I caused the fuck up. I didn't intentionally do it, so...I wanna fix it."

Ignis sighed, and it felt like a great movement inside of him. A heave, in and out. "Why don't..." No, that wasn't quite right. He didn't want it to sound like a request. "Let me look into it. I've never heard of something like this, something that cleaves the soul and body apart, but perhaps there's something hidden in my library. I can ask about town too. Perhaps someone devoted to healing might know how to meld a soul and body together again."

Prompto mumbled something. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I don't want to be a burden." The words were mumbled again, but more loudly this time, and Ignis found himself smiling that indulgent smile again. A smile he probably shouldn't wear if he didn't want Prompto to immediately catch onto the feelings he'd found himself developing.

"It's not a burden. We're residents of this town, and, plainly put, we're supposed to help each other. Not only that, but this is interesting. Who knows what opportunities a device that records your image but can cleave the soul and body in two might provide."

"Not exactly my shining moment, that last part."

"All knowledge is useful," Ignis reminded him. "We just have to figure out how. Now," he placed a hand firmly on Prompto's shoulder. "I was informed that I was to ensure you had gotten to bed before I left. You are probably exhausted."

"I'm fine," Prompto insisted, but Ignis could see how he'd wilted a bit since he'd arrived, and particularly after the box had taken his picture. Prompto was tired, he'd probably been trying to figure out how to fix his dilemma all night. It was rather adorable, how he felt terrible about that part, but was sill so excited that he'd managed to make something that could truly capture one's image on a thin sheet of metal.

"Fine you might be," though he clearly wasn't, for beneath his fingers Ignis could feel a slight tremble. "But I have my orders, and, frankly, your sister is much more frightening than you."

That earned him the laugh he'd been hoping for. "She really is." He heaved the same sort of sigh that Ignis had heaved himself, not ten minutes ago. "All right. I guess I can call it a night - a day, whatever."

"Good man." Prompto allowed himself to be steered off toward his room at that point, no pausing to remove any sort of clothing, or to shoo him out so he could change. The only thing he did was remove Noctis from the spot the child had curled up on before he climbed under the covers, and, well, Ignis was fairly certain that he was out like a flame against the wind before Ignis could even say sleep well.

Ignis thought that, though adorable, he looked doubly tired with his face pressed against the pillow like that. He ought to sleep more. He'd have to take what he could get though, and that meant scooping Noctis up into his arms before it could get close enough to pull at Prompto's hair and descending the stairs quickly, before it could start to cry.

"Mission accomplished!" He called as loudly as he dared into Cindy's area of the house.

"Good," came the muffled reply. "Thank ya!"

Ignis took that as as much of a goodbye as he was going to get, and, child still in his arms, he left the house. The cold hit him like a wall between the door and oncoming winter outside. Yes, it was certainly going to be an early and long winter, he thought as Noctis shuddered against him. At this rate he really was going to have to get Noctis a winter coat.

When that thought hit him Ignis realized that they had discussed everything but what to do with Noctis. The one thing they really actually needed to get to.

How infuriating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MONTHS/SEASONS/NAMEDAY:
> 
> Wise -Winter  
> Conqueror -Winter  
> Clever - Ignis - Winter/Spring  
> Wanderer - Gladio - Spring  
> Mystic - Spring  
> Rogue - Spring/Summer  
> Tall - Summer  
> Just - Summer  
> Fierce - Noctis - Summer/Autumn  
> Pious - Autumn  
> Warrior - Prompto - Autumn  
> Oracle - Autumn/Winter  
> Father - Winter
> 
> Why haven't I put any other character up here? Because to be honest, I don't know when they actually have their birthday in canon, and I wanted to keep namedays and birthdays...approximately accurate. *makes so-so motion with hand*
> 
> As a side note, you can think of months much like "astrology", so in the last chapter, when Ignis commented that "Prompto didn't seem much like a Warrior." it simply meant that he didn't have the stereotypical personality traits normally attributed to that month.


	11. In Which the Wrong Thing is Said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> You all - or rather I am - lucky. I have a pretty strict 2000 word minimum for chapters, because that's just the kind of crazy I am, and this chapter _barely_ got there when I was writing it. OTL
> 
> This week's chapter will briefly touch on technology at the end! I'm finally running out of things that I want/feel the need to explain, so if you have anything you want to see me explain, please ask.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter! <33333

There was both a thrill to it and an irritation. It was such an odd combination. He'd certainly been right to tell Prompto that he didn't remember anything about souls in his studies, for he was finding nothing upon reevaluation. The soul was normally such an intangible thing. They all had one, certainly. They knew it existed, it had a weight to it, it was powerful and ever changing. They knew that, it was part of why the firstborn was so powerful when it was still a baby, unlimited potential not yet even beginning to be molded. Yes. The soul existed, and they did things with it, it was a part of his very potion research, but never...all by itself. Always with the body, and always alive to begin with for the soul fled as soon as death occurred unless otherwise tethered, as his potion's ingredients and magic would theoretically tether the firstborn's soul.

There were tales in which people lost their souls and a god would later restore it. That was what people seemed to think it took - a god. Even in the forbidden art of necromancy it seemed like the soul was already gone to the After. The magic would restore the body, but the soul was absent. Even a necromancer couldn't do it, yet Prompto, with a small box and, presumably, a small bit of chalk and alchemy, had both cleaved the soul away from the body (unintentionally even!) and then, in a panic, had captured the soul in a bottle.

He was starting to understand why people perhaps thought that alchemy was a hop, skip, and a jump away from necromancy, and yet it didn't terrify him. It fascinated him. How much could be learned just from this little bit here? What was it about Prompto's little box that separated the soul and the body? And why didn't it to do it to witches? How precisely had Prompto managed to liquefy and get the souls into bottles? So much to be learned, and yes, in the wrong hands it could go very badly, but Ignis didn't think Prompto's hands were the wrong ones. Someone who seemed to feel as intensely as Prompto did seemed like the perfect hands to put such a thing in. After all, Prompto wasn't seeking to have a shelf full of souls in bottles. Prompto wanted to put those souls back where they belonged and he just didn't know how.

He thought Prompto was right, upon further inspection. Putting it straight into the stomach would kill it, and he'd come to think that making a potion would only yield similar results for he was essentially cooking the soul. He didn't know if the soul in this form was fragile or strong? It seemed so fragile inside those bottles, yet he knew how strong a soul could be in driving a person. Prompto had also said injection was a bad route and if alchemy had a known route he obviously would have just done that.

Ignis only had two small notes scrawled down on the small piece of parchment he'd put aside for jotting things down. The first was 'inhaled?' shortly followed my 'Can it be slowly heated until it turns gaseous?' These weren't even answers, just more questions, and Ignis found that he was truly getting nowhere.

He startled and knocked several things to the floor as he heard a loud clatter from the kitchen. He didn't need to get up to know what was going on, but he got up anyway and found exactly what he'd been expecting. There was Noctis sitting in the middle of a giant pile of pans. It wasn't even like he had that many pans, and yet all pulled out like that they seemed like a flood. He huffed. "You're lucky," he told the child even as it grinned up a him. "You're lucky we can't just separate you out into the bits we need." He froze even as he leaned over to pick up the pans.

Or could they?

Prompto had been very cautious about not using the picture box while Noctis was anywhere in its sights. Why? Because Noctis was a _human_ , and it would have separated the soul and body. At the time he hadn't even thought about it, but it made sense. They needed the child whole, after all, but did they really? Ignis had said to Gladio all that time ago that he needed the child's body and soul. At the time he'd only said it as a flourish of speech, but what if that was really true? Before it wouldn't have mattered. There was no way to separate them. He'dsimply needed all the child had. That. That wasn't necessarily true now.

What could be left behind? Potentially the very thing Prompto needed. The longer he came to know Prompto, especially after spending time in his kitchen, the more Ignis doubted that Prompto was any good at potions. That wouldn't be what Prompto was trying to achieve. It was much more likely that Prompto wanted to preform a ritual of some sort, one that required a sacrifice. A sacrifice of life and maybe some blood.

If. If that were the case. With his contraption, it might be perfectly doable.

Ignis shook with excitement as he sat the pans down on the table. It might be doable. After what felt like years of waiting, and grumbling, and worrying, they might actually have a solution to their Vow.

He had to make sure.

He jerked his hands away from the pots and left the child seated on the kitchen floor. He went into his study and pulled down the books and sheafs of paper that had been left abandoned for months now. He opened them up and it felt like he was thirty years younger, just starting to figure out what he thought other people had missed in their attempts at creating a panacea. The idea of something that might work with them both getting precisely what they wanted put him on a high he wasn't sure he ever wanted to come down from. Ignis still needed to be sure, and so with still shaking hands, he dipped his pen into the inkwell and started a whole new set of notes. Would it work? Would it work?

By the time the sun rose on Shiva-Tide, he had his answer.

"Wow, you look terrible."

The carelessly thrown words only made Ignis laugh, which perhaps only made Prompto feel and look more on edge. "I don't think I've actually slept in two days now that you mention it."

"And! And you get on my case about sleeping?!"

Another laugh, and Prompto looked ready to bolt. No, no, that wouldn't do. He had to stay and hear the news. "I assure you, I haven't not slept like this in ages. I promise I will sleep soon, but first--"

"First?"

"Tell me, Prompto, what, exactly, do you need Noctis for? Not in terms of what you're doing with it, but in terms of what you need out of it. What you plan to do with it."

"I." Prompto licked his lips nervously. "I need to kill him."

"Because?"

"Because it's a...blood sacrifice?" Shoulders hunched up against his neck, but he didn't run, and he didn't clam up. "It requires his life to work."

He laughed again. Perhaps it wasn't so much that he didn't laugh very often, but that he sounded a bit maniacal as he did so. It was the lack of sleep, he felt it was making him feel like he was floating and light as air. He was overtired, and he knew it, but six-be-damned if it didn't feel good. It felt good, but even to his half gone mind, he could tell Prompto was ready to bounce away like a deer from a predator, and so Ignis reached out. He reached out and cupped his cheeks. He had to make it clear that this was not a bad thing. Not anymore.

"You are a genius, Prompto Argentum," he whispered. "A bloody genius." And then he kissed him. It didn't start off very well, considering that Prompto jerked back from him a little, but then there was no resistance at all, and instead he found Prompto leaning into him. Hands found his shirt and twisted into the fabric. He could practically feel Prompto's nervousness in it, as though he hadn't kissed very often, and that was okay, Ignis thought. It was okay. He was allowed to be nervous. Ignis himself found that he was too, as he pried himself back, just a little. Not even far enough to see his whole face.

"Why am I a genius?" The words tickled against his lips, and Ignis smiled.

"You, without even meaning to, have solved our problem."

"I-I have?"

"Yes!" Ignis proclaimed, pulling back just a little so that he could properly see him. His hands lingered on Prompto's face, and he found he very much liked the way his skin felt under his fingers. Soft, and warm enough to match the flush that made those freckles stand out beautifully. "Your picture box! With it's help we can both get precisely the things we need out of the child. We. We can finally move forward with our lives." They didn't have to be bound together by the Vow anymore, they could talk about perhaps real, honest relationship, it didn't have to be business, and they could just--

"Wait."

Prompto's hands were pulling at his wrists, and Ignis found that his face was full of fury. "Is that really all you care about?! It is isn't it?! All you care about is getting what you want!" He was pulling away completely now, and Ignis wanted to tell him that he was wrong in what he was saying. It _wasn't_ all he cared about. Not at all! Didn't he see that he wanted Prompto to get what he wanted too? That he cared about Prompto?! "Of course it is!"

"Prompto--"

"No! Nope! Not listening right now!" Prompto was out of his reach by this point, already all the way over to the dining table, lifting Noctis up into his arms. "Maybe you're right! Maybe it can help us! But you didn't have to fucking--!" In Prompto's arms, the child began to wail, and Prompto's face fell. The sound appeared to take all the wind out of his sails. "I. I'm sorry, but I can't talk to you right now. I'll see you next Shiva-Tide."

He walked right past him, Noctis still crying in his arms even as Prompto softly tried to quiet it with soothing words. The door open and shut with a sound that was nearly a slamming both ways. It was only when the door closed that the spell of shock that had fallen over him at what had just happened. The high he'd been feeling gone as quickly as day always seemed to turn to night in the dead of winter. How could it have turned like that? One moment it had seemed like everything was finally coming together as it should. A moment later it seemed like everything had shattered like glass.

Far too late for him to actually call after Prompto, Ignis ran for the door and opened it up. He was stopped short by what he saw there. It wasn't Prompto or the babe, no, it was clear that they'd left for Prompto's home and gotten out of sight as soon as they'd left. In fact, the town around him was bare and quiet of everyone, and the reason was fairly clear. The cold outside nipped at him, as it had been for over a month now, but now there was something else added to the mix - soft snow was falling from the sky and landing gently on the ground. It wouldn't stick, but it was the first snowfall of the year. Even children would be kept inside to prevent slipping until everyone was more comfortable with the idea that winter was here to stay, and it wouldn't be gone for far too long.

It matched his new mood, Ignis thought. A cold, dreary sky that couldn't even keep hold of the effect it was trying to have.

In one direction he could see Prompto's already fading footprints in the slush. It went off toward his and Cindy's house. Ignis grabbed his cloak from its hook by the door and left the house, closing it carefully behind him. He didn't follow the footprints though, in fact he went off in the opposite direction completely. This wasn't something that was going to be fixed or helped by him simply following after Prompto. No, he needed help figuring out where it had even gone wrong. There was really only person he could turn to for that.

He could only hope that Gladio hadn't left town for the week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technology:
> 
> As you might have already guessed, electricity as we know it isn't a thing (yet) in this world, for light in dark places people rely on candles/oil lamps, fireplaces, or magic.
> 
> There are guns, considering that there's also fireworks, though, even among humans, such things are considered pricey, rare, and not very much worth it. Other forms of weaponry are standard.
> 
> People like Prompto and Cindy have enough knowledge of the world and magic that they are starting to infringe on technology that people haven't seen before through the use of magic, and in certain parts of the world, people might intent steam power and perhaps even trains soon. (The printing press exists, and knowledge/books are getting easier to get a hold of. Most people can read/write.)
> 
> The one thing I want to make it clear that is very common is **indoor plumbing**. Even smaller towns usually have it in some form, and all witch towns make use of wells to bring water to their houses. Human cities have sewer systems, but smaller towns have something more like septic systems that have to be even more highly regulated.


	12. In Which the Vow is Broken With a Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> Is this the beginning of the end? Or the end of the beginning? Hm.
> 
> Please enjoy! <3

Ignis was already waiting by the Wishing Tree when he realized that he wasn't even sure if Gladio had been in town this week. He hadn't gone to the market to see if either Amicitia sibling was selling this week. He'd been far too distracted by the idea of a solution of their problem.

He didn't know, but he couldn't turn back and so Ignis waited. He waited and he paced beneath the tree branches, feeling wholly not very much like himself. He wasn't an anxious person, someone who didn't know what they were doing. Anxious, confused, and unsure of what to do. These were not things that felt like him.

Ignis shook, not just from the cold that was biting at his fingertips, ears, and nose, or even from the nerves and feelings racing through his blood, but because he'd also been up for so long. His body was trying to tell him he needed to stop, he needed to sleep, but he also knew that even if he put his head to a pillow just then he'd lie awake, trying to figure things out.

He continued to pace, shaking all the while, until a hand caught his shoulder. When he turned, there was Gladio, and he could have cried in relief. "Oh thank goodness."

"What's up? Were you waiting for me?"

"Yes, I was. I. I've somehow made a terrible mistake, and I don't know how to fix it. I. I need your help."

"Are you okay? You're shaking." A hand reached up to touch his forehead, which meant that his vision was partially obscured for a moment. Not an anxious person, and yet he nearly panicked and balked at it. "You're burning up, Iggy."

"And yet I'm freezing."

"Come on." Gladio tugged at his arm. The tugging became a little more insistent when Ignis didn't immediately move to follow him. "Let's get you back home, and then maybe you tell me what's going on. Unless someone's dying. Is someone dying?"

Yes, he thought. Me. I am. I'm dying. "No," was what he said.

"That's a start."

They walked back to his house, Gladio's hand hovering at his back. The touch was light, but Ignis was hyper-aware that said hand was guiding him along. It was there to keep him going. He appreciated it, underneath it all. If Gladio's hand weren't there, he probably would have stopped again, somewhere in the slush, and the snow, and the cold. As it was, he fumbled with his own door handle, and once inside it was Gladio who removed his cloak. The hand at his back returned almost immediately, and it guided him up his own stairs, and said hand then pushed him down onto his own bed before even his own shoes were removed by someone else's hands. "Gladio, I'm--"

"Don't say fine," Gladio warned. "You're not fine, and now you're going to sleep, okay? We'll talk when you get up."

He found he was too tired to argue. Instead he moved a little when Gladio swatted at his legs, and he was tucked into bed like a child. He couldn't even complain, it felt too nice.

The next thing he was really aware of was being warm and heavy, and not in a totally pleasant way. It had been a long time since he'd fallen ill, but he was pretty sure that he remembered it feeling like this. He drifted up into a sitting position, and Gladio was instantly there, holding out two bottles. "Which one? Which one is gonna help you?"

Honestly, Ignis was rather impressed that Gladio had whittled the options down to two. After having to stare at them for far too long, he picked the soft purple one. "This one. It'll knock me out again though."

"That's fine." Gladio said as he uncorked the bottle. "You sleep it off."

And that was the last thing he remembered for a while.

The next time he was awake it was dark outside his window, but he felt lucid and like himself again. And that was why he really shouldn't stay up for days on end, he supposed, or go running out into the cold, or stress himself out like that. Though, just thinking about that stress brought it all back to him, and he sighed into his pillow, feeling quite petulant in his desire to stay here and never face that again.

"You should eat," came Gladio's voice from somewhere in the room.

"I'm not really hungry yet." He probably would be, given another half hour or so, but the effects of the potion he'd downed still sat heavy in his stomach. It would take a little more time before that wore off and food stopped sounding appalling.

"All right," Ignis felt rather than saw Gladio sit on the edge of his bed. "Why don't we talk then? About what made you foolishly go running out into the first snowfall of the year? And then get sick?"

"I kissed Prompto."

Gladio chuckled, and there was a weight on his back as Gladio rubbed it slowly up and down. It made him feel warmer. His stomach both liked and disliked it. "I know I told you I wanted to know, but it could have waited until next time I was in town."

"No, that--" He sighed again.

"He didn't like it?"

"No," Ignis repeated. "I think he liked the kiss itself, but I did -said- something wrong?"

The hand paused in its rubbing. "Tell me the whole story, from the top."

Ignis did, doing his best to be verbatim when he could. He started at the visit that introduced the picture box, and how fascinating it had been. He told him how he'd agreed to try and figure out how to reattach the souls together, and then figuring out how it might help their particular predicament. When he got to the end of the story, the bit where Prompto took the child and left into the snow, Gladio laughed at him. It really did not feel good to be laughed at. "Yeah, you fucked up."

"Thank you."

"I see what you meant, from you telling me about it. I really do, Iggy, but if I were Prompto I wouldn't have seen it that way either. While you meant wanting to be free of the business arrangement and free to pursue something more emotional, all he saw was you wanting to move on from him - _period_."

"That's truly not what I meant."

"And you're gonna have to tell him that, come Shiva-Tide. Sit him down, apologize, and tell him what you really meant." Gladio snorted. "Throwing in that sometimes developing feelings for one's One makes them a little crazy, probably wouldn't hurt."

"He's not--"

"Oh. Iggy. Don't even say it. He is. He's your One." The hand on his back paused, or rather stopped, and then just the thumb rubbed over the same spot over and over. "I've met a few, in the different towns. It's always the same. Some force of 'destiny' forces them to interact, feelings that develop or shift very quickly. I've seen it both ways, love and hate, but I knew he was yours. I knew it that first morning, when you had me answer the door. I knew my time with you would probably be brief if that hate shifted to something else."

"I don't know why you think I'm sending you away."

"You're not. But it might come to that. Prompto might not want to share, if he feels the same as you do. I'll understand if he doesn't." He felt Gladio shifting on the bed again, and Ignis sort of felt like he was falling. His _One_. Could that really be true? Ignis had never thought he'd apply the term to anyone. It was too whimsical. Lips pressed against the side of his head, and there was a pain in his chest. He did want to be with Prompto, but he truly didn't want to leave Gladio behind either. He wasn't sure he could say it was love, but Gladio did complete something in him, and he didn't want to give that up. The very thought was painful.

"Be honest," Gladio whispered in his ear. "Admit that you fucked up, tell him how you feel, hope for the best. And wait. Don't go tomorrow. He said next Shiva-Tide. He set a boundary. Don't cross it. Okay?" Ignis nodded into his pillow. "How does your stomach feel now?"

It felt even worse than before, but Ignis pushed himself up anyway. He didn't think it was going to feel better any time soon. He should eat.

Gladio left the next morning, but not before promising that he would loop back this way next week to see how things had gone. Ignis thought that was a good idea either way. Gladio would comfort him if it went badly, and they would have to talk about where things between them went from here if went well. Either way it was certainly a good idea to have Gladio come over next week.

Knowing that Gladio would come back next week did nothing for Ignis _now_ though. Once he was gone Ignis felt sort of listless and empty. He had potions to make, not just for the people in town on orders, but in general as other people would start getting sicker now too, or feel upset at the lack of sunlight. He had potions to make, but, the reality was that he could only make one and prep for another in advance. That left his brain quite open to other thoughts, especially without the child around to distract him in one of a thousand ways. Even reading could not stop him from stopping and running over what he was going to say in his brain.

Over the next few days only two things really happened. One was that it kept snowing, which was unusual and honestly quite worrying in and of itself. This early in the season there was usually still some time. The Starlight Festival would be coming up in just over a month, and normally the heavy snows didn't start until after that point. Before that, there might be snow, but it was the slush from the other day, wet, cold, nothing parents wanted to deal with children playing in, but ultimately temporary. This year, every time Ignis looked out the window the snow seemed to be getting worse. By Leviathan-Tide the snow was no longer slush at all, and the ground had grown cold enough that the snow no longer melted soon after impact. The houses he could see from his window remained too warm for buildup, but the small corners and pathways were now starting to seem more white than was strictly considered not worrisome.

Ignis wondered if there would even be a Titan-Tide market this week, or if the snow would be too much and keep everyone inside. The paths outside were certainly already clear of people nearly all day. He wondered if the baker was even bothering with the breads, or if he was waiting until it cleared up for a day. If he was, when the sun came up on Ramuh-Tide, he would certainly be disappointed to find that it had only gotten worse. He'd very nearly call it a blizzard at this point. He couldn't see much outside for all the wind and blow that was blowing. Ignis wasn't sure he'd even be able to get out the front door by Shiva-Tide at this rate, and that thought wasn't helping him not lose his mind over thing number two.

Thing number two that had happened was that he'd already thought up a thousand different speeches of what he wanted to say to Prompto when Shiva-Tide came. A thousand different ways to say he was sorry. A thousand different ways to say that wasn't what he meant. A thousand different ways to try and say he loved him, without actually using the word love. The idea that he might be stuck inside, unable to get anywhere - unable to say anything - it was maddening all on its own.

Did everyone do this? When they were stuck, bored, and waiting for something to happen? How did people survive it?

Two days, he told himself after dinner that evening. He just had to get through the next two days and then it would be Shiva-Tide. He told himself that if the snow didn't let up he'd melt with fire if he absolutely had to. Not only did he need to talk to Prompto, but if he didn't get there the Vow would break all on its own. Though, truly, that didn't seem like such a terrible thing anymore. His emotions had truly taken over, and that too was maddening.

With the dishes washed and the dark outside all encompassing, Ignis went to head upstairs for bed.

That was when the door burst open.

Even with the lamp in his hand, Ignis couldn't see if someone was in the doorway or if the force of the wind had pried it open, but then Prompto's voice reached his ears, and he had his answer.

"Oh thank the gods you're still awake!"

The cold air was blasting inside his normally warm house as he strode quickly toward the door, where the lamplight started to reveal that it really was Prompto there, bundled in winter clothing, Noctis held protectively in his arms. The door clacked shut in tandem with the lamp being sat on the table. It was a good thing he set it down, out of anyone's way, for the moment the door was closed, Prompto was in his space. The feel and smell of cold and snow was nearly overwhelming. "Prompto, what's wrong?"

"Take him." The words were soft, but the way Noctis was pushed against him was anything but. It was so insistent that Ignis was worried Prompto would actually drop the child if he didn't take him, so he hastily did. The child itself didn't try to stop him, and the way it made a soft sort of cooing noise suggested to Ignis that despite having been out in the cold it was still half asleep...or perhaps it was just as perplexed about this as Ignis was.

"Prompto, really, what's going on?!"

"We're leaving. Cindy and I."

"What?" The shock of that statement hit him hard, and of all the stupid, inane questions he could have asked, the one that came out of his lips was - "When will you be back?"

There was a chuckle, soft, weak, and somehow sad. "Never, Ignis. We're never coming back." He heard a deep breath. "So you get him. All of him. He's yours."

"Prompto, wait--"

Prompto wasn't waiting. "I, Prompto Argentum, formally relinquish my claim to this firstborn child. I break the Vow willingly, and leave Noctis in Ignis Scientia's care." Before Ignis could tell him to wait again, Prompto pressed himself impossibly closer to them, gloved hands fisting in his collar and pulling him down so that their lips could meet. It was brief, and Ignis could feel the aura of cold wafting off his skin. The whole thing was cold and formal.

When Prompto pulled back only a moment later, Ignis could hear the soft pop of the Vow breaking. He heard it, but the reality was that he felt it more in his heart. He had gotten so used to the tug there that had made him beholden to Prompto. He'd gotten so used to being tied together that feeling that bond disappear, especially when he didn't really agree to it, it made him feel empty. It was a loss inside of him, and it made him want to cry, as though tears could fill that hole. He almost did cry, before he felt those gloved hands against his face, tugging him back down even further.

When their lips met again it wasn't so cold and formal. Perhaps it was imagined, but there was warmth in it this time. Warmth, desire, actual feeling. This time, Ignis kissed back, as though he could tell Prompto how he felt through it. Perhaps he did, for Prompto's hands trembled against his face.

"I love you," it was Prompto's voice ringing in his ears as they pulled apart. They were words more breathed than spoken.

"Prompto--" He was silenced by Prompto's hand firmly over his mouth. When he looked at his face, he saw a very odd mixture of emotions in the light. Sadness yes, but there was determination there, as well as a great deal of fear.

"Please don't kill our son."

Prompto fled, door open and shut behind him before Ignis could even take a step. No. He wasn't letting him go that easily this time. Noctis was sat unceremoniously on the ground, where it began to cry. A sound like knives against his ears at this point, and yet he knew he couldn't afford to stop. "I will be back," he promised the child before he ran out the door without even grabbing his cloak.

That was a mistake.

He'd known it was bad outside, but he wasn't sure much of anything could have prepared him for what he ran out into. The wind was so strong that it nearly whipped him up in its grasp, the snow hit like little daggers on his skin, and the dark was so all encompassing that he found himself wondering how Prompto had ever made it to his house. Even following the deep footprints in the snow, Ignis knew quickly enough that he wasn't going to make it. Even with a small fire dancing between his fingertips he knew he fall in the storm before he got there. He could ask the wind to take him, but it wasn't listening to him. It wouldn't even take him home. He felt betrayed and abandoned, not just by Prompto, but that wind. It had always come to his beck and call like all the elements had. Why wasn't it listening to him?! Why wasn't it helping?! Had he offended it? At least he knew he'd offended Prompto, but the wind?!

No, still it ignored him, or perhaps didn't even hear his call, and Ignis knew that if he wanted to see the morning light, he needed to turn back.

Somehow, the returning was even harder than the going. The wind sliced through him, the snow stealing even the small warmth of the fire. Even his footprints were almost gone by the time he bothered to turn around. Blind, cold, and heartbroken, there was a point where he almost gave up. He almost let the flame in his hand go out. He almost laid down in the snow that almost seemed inviting. He knew it would be death, but he almost didn't care.

He heard a cry. No, not just a cry, but the cry of a small child. He'd left a small child sitting on his kitchen floor. He looked up again, and there, on the very edge of his vision, was a soft glow. It was from a window. His lamp. Noctis.

He ran. He ran, crashing against the wood of his own doorway. The cry was louder, and the metal of his door-handle burned on his skin. Pain, but also life. He pried the door open and all but fell inside to find Noctis still in the same spot he'd left it. The child was silent for a second, staring up at his face with tears staining its cheeks, and then it cried even louder, its face bunched up, hands reaching for him in want.

It knew, Ignis thought, and then he amended the thought. No. Not it. _He_. Their son was what Prompto had called Noctis. That meant Noctis was a he, and he knew. He knew Prompto was gone, and he knew Prompto wasn't coming back. A horrible thought struck him, though he'd promised, when he'd run out the door, Noctis had probably thought he wasn't coming back either.

And he almost hadn't.

"I'm sorry!" he said, scooping the child (so warm against him) into his arms, his face pressed against its small shoulder and neck. "I'm so sorry."

Noctis' wails didn't stop, they only softened a little, and that was all right, because now Ignis was sobbing too.

Prompto was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MEDICINE/HEALING:
> 
> No matter which way you look at it, witches are vastly more advanced than humans in terms of things like wound treatment and medicine. Humans for the most part have a very "don't get sick" approach to things, and if you do get sick, you're almost instantly SOL if it's something serious. For wounds it's practically "pour some alcohol on it and cover it up." Splints and stitches are about as advanced as one gets. Though in some areas midwifery is making men very angry.
> 
> For everything else, one wishes for a witch and hopes they can pay the price.
> 
> Healing itself is certainly a devotion on its own, but it is purely for the more physical wounds, and in general, the faster one gets oneself to a healer after an injury, the more the healer can do. It's best if you always have a healer nearby, and even better than best if said healer sees precisely what happened to you, though, this is naturally not always possible. An excellent healer can learn to manipulate things like nerves after the fact, and on occasion someone who could not walk or see has been healed well enough that they can. Healers are also the ones you go to for childbirth, and most witches know little to no pain or complications when birthing.
> 
> A good singer can also aid in childbirth in a pinch, with the pains and the breathing, but being that skilled is rare.
> 
> For most everything else, one turns to their brewer. A good brewer should have an array of potions that can deal with anything from fevers to major illnesses. A great brewer will be able to listen to what ails you and make you a personalized potion, though that will naturally take longer. A brewer's research is never truly done, and many of them devote their lives to finding new things to help people, the ultimate among these naturally being the Panacea that Ignis himself seeks to create - a thing that will cure anything and all things.


	13. In Which There is a Coeurl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> Please enjoy (or suffer)! <3333

The next day found Ignis thoroughly exhausted, it was like a repeat of last week all over again, except Gladio wasn't here this time, and instead he had Noctis to look after. Luckily, the child seemed to be almost as tired as he was, and except for making sure that there was going to be food for them to eat Ignis was allowed to sleep it off, though the child insisted on being in the same room, often even the same bed. Which was fine, sleeping was better. He wouldn't say his dreams were entirely pleasant, but they lacked the ache that filled him the moment he opened his eyes.

At least, he supposed, it was still snowing, and there was an excuse to not leave the house.

By dinnertime, having gotten dressed seemed like an accomplishment, and when he looked outside into the growing darkness he found that he could actually see the next building over through the snow. That was good, he thought. It didn't even seem to be overtaken by buildup. If the snow finally stopped falling overnight, maybe everyone could get back to their normal business in the morning. Normal.

Ignis wasn't sure anything was ever going to feel normal to him again. No. That wasn't true. Eventually the pain of his parents' deaths had been folded into his life as though it was meant to be there. Surely someday Prompto's departure would feel the same.

Noctis pulled at his pant-leg, and Ignis let the curtain fall back into place. "It's all right," he said without looking down at the child, though he imagined he was asking to be held. "It's okay to be all right." Then, as he went to look down at Noctis, the ground shook and his heart hurt. It literally hurt as though someone were trying to rip it from his chest. He must have fallen to his knees, because the next thing he was really aware of was Noctis' little hands at his face, and they were almost eye level.

The Wishing Tree. Such a pain could have only come from the Wishing Tree. It was in danger, and it was calling out to them for help. Ignis couldn't ignore the call, he scooped the child up in his arms and ran up the stairs. "Stay here," he told it, even as it cried out to him. "I'll be back as soon as I am able." He shut the door then and flew back down. His legs felt heavy, and the beating of his heart somehow felt thick, yet he still had managed to pull on his boots before another tremor hit. This one didn't hurt his heart, but it was accompanied by a loud boom.

When Ignis wrenched the door open seconds later, his eyes weren't drawn in the direction of the Wishing Tree. Instead, his eyes zeroed in on the growing flames emanating from the direction of Prompto and Cindy's home. Though his body protested it, he ran. The snow didn't blind him this time and the wind had died down to almost nothing. His boots dug into the layers of snow though, and that made the running slow going. Too slow. The Tree's survival and protection meant nothing if the humans saw the flames. They had to be put out.

His lungs burned and his legs were cold, wet, and exhausted by the time Prompto's home came properly into view. From this distance it was even worse than it had seemed from his own home. It seemed like a column of flames in the air, a beacon to any who would harm them in their sleepy little town. He had to put it out. He knew others would come, he couldn't have been the only one to feel the Tree's hurt, to feel the ground shake. No, others would come, but would it be soon enough? Ignis was inclined to think not. He had to start working on putting the fire out himself, but how?

Ignis wasted precious time trying to figure out the answer on his own before he spotted it before him. The door. That door that he'd become so accustomed to knocking on. It was barely noticeable between the shifting flames but there, he saw it. It was an alchemy circle. He'd be six-damned if it didn't seem like very nearly the same one he'd worked with months ago. Without thinking, he ran for it, knowing in his heart that Prompto had left this here for _him_. Prompto had left this thing, knowing this would happen, knowing Ignis would know what to do with this circle.

His hands slammed against wood too hot to be comfortable. The flames around him licked at him, not quite enough to burn, but close enough to be unpleasant. He had to feed this circle his magic, and he remembered what Prompto had told him back in Cartanica - If there was a part of him specifically for fire, he should use it. He did. He started with the part of him that was fire, and he shoved it all into this circle. The effect was instantaneous. He was wrong, it wasn't the exact same circle. In Cartanica the circles had pulled. Here it pushed. Through the irritation of smoke and heat in his eyes he saw it. It looked as though the flames were being thrown out of the house into the snow banks all around. Already the height of the flames had lessened. It was working.

Something rammed into his side.

It was so sudden that the shock came before the pain. He'd landed on his side in the snow, and he was still working out how to push himself back up when he heard the growl. Ignis found himself face to face with something no one ever wanted to be face to face with. It was a coeurl, and in that moment Ignis knew he was looking at the face of his own death. It was larger than any of the stories had ever described, each of its teeth as long as his own hand.

It was beautiful.

It was terrifying.

"He's been here. You knew him."

It spoke.

"Don't deny it," it said in a man's voice that had just a bit of the lilt a lot of older witches had. "I can smell it on your clothing. You were close." It leaned down, and Ignis swore his heart stopped in his chest to see those teeth up close, to feel the heat of its breath, to hear the sparks on its whiskers. "You will never see him again."

Ignis thought he was dead then, as a giant paw pinned him down in the snow. The other paw, was raised, poised to strike he knew. These were his last moments, and he was both filled with terror and acceptance. He both relaxed into the snow and raised his arms up to shield his face. He both thought about using magic to defend himself and knew it would be pointless. Coeurls _were_ magic.

"Ignis!"

Gladio's voice in his ears was like the shock of a coeurl's sting all on its own. The coeurl must have felt that way too. He could feel its paw flex on his chest, and then there was pain. It wasn't an end, but it seared down one side of his face and on his arm. He screamed in pure agony.

"Ignis!"

The coeurl was gone, he could tell more by the lack of its weight on him than seeing it flee, but it was gone into the night, and while the pain on his face was immense, he was almost sure he'd survive it. Feeling the pain was good, he knew, it meant he still had the nerves.

Hands pulled him up so that he was sitting, and again he knew it was Gladio more because Gladio was the one he'd heard coming rather than seeing him. In fact. Oh -- He wasn't sure he could see out one eye at all. "Fuck. Iggy--"

"How bad is it?"

"It. It's bleeding a lot."

"Of course it is!" He snapped, "Head wounds do! But can you tell how deep?!" He could taste blood, and both his upper and lower lip stung to move. It was minor, compared to the pain over the top portion of his left side. He couldn't open the eyelid. "My eye. Can - Can you tell if it's even there?"

"Yeah. Okay." Fingers prodded at his face. Ignis could tell he was trying to be gentle with him, but it mattered not, the fingers aggravated the wounds, and he choked on his own breath. "Shit. Sorry."

"Just. Please." Get it over with. It hurt badly enough without five thousand attempts to assess the damage.

"Okay, okay." He bit down on his lip as Gladio got to his eye. It hurt like nothing else, but when Gladio pulled his fingers back he had good news. "I think the eye is okay. Your eyelid got it pretty good, but I don't think it totally got through."

"Good. Now help me up."

"Iggy--"

"No!" He didn't want to hear the reluctance in that tone. Was he hurt? Of course he was! He knew that better than Gladio, he was, after all, the one feeling it! "There is still a house burning to pieces behind us! It may be night, but that does not mean that we won't be seen!" And where were the other residents?! Surely not all of them had run off in the direction of the Wishing Tree when this was clearly the more immediate danger? Coeurl notwithstanding there should have been more people here! Surely they weren't afraid to leave their houses! "Help me up!"

Gladio didn't argue with him this time. He was pulled to his feet, a hand settling at his waist as he wobbled a little. The pain in his head intensified. He could see through the one eye now, but the other wouldn't even open, and it made everything askew. Everything crackled with heat and the still falling snow didn't help. His body wanted to give up. How pathetic. Was he going to let one scratch fell him now? No. He ran for it, keenly aware that he almost tripped and fell several times. His hands hit the blessedly still intact doorway, and he shoved every bit of what he had into it. Out pushed the fire again, but he could tell just by the growing heat under his hands, the way it kept hitting him in waves and burning against his wounds, it wasn't going to be enough.

"What do you need?!" He heard Gladio say, and Ignis was startled to realize he was right behind him. Had Gladio truly followed him up here? Right into what could very easily become an inescapable inferno? "Tell me what you need to put this out!"

"Nothing you can give me!" He wasn't trying to be cruel by saying that. Truly he wasn't. "Not unless you can get more people here to help me!"

"So? What? Magic? You need more magic?"

"Yes!" More magic, more witches hands to fuel this circle before it burned away.

"More magic, coming right up." Gladio's hands slid right up between his shoulder blades. The motion would have been pleasant, if not for the confusion, the pain, and the entire situation. "I'm gonna give it to you, okay? Then you can use it however."

"Gladio--"

"You're elementally inclined. You can handle it." That sounded like something Gladio was saying to reassure himself more than Ignis, and when Gladio's thumbs dug into his back, Ignis realized why. Gladio had a ton of magic. More than a ton. It was like trying to fill a glass with a waterfall. Except the waterfall wasn't water, it was the earth. It felt like the earth itself was trying claim him as its own. He was elementally inclined, but dammit not like _this_.

"Don't let it overwhelm you. Come on, Iggy, just push it back out into whatever your doing."

That sounded easier than it actually was. This magic -- it wasn't a witch's magic. It was wild, free, and it didn't want to be harnessed. He had to fight for every bit he pushed into the circle, but every bit of Gladio's magic was worth ten times every bit of his own. His entire body still sang with the song of Gladio's magic inside him by the time the fire was gone. "It's done!" He all, but screamed at Gladio. "Stop!" He couldn't take any more.

He shook. He fell. Gladio was there. He was picked up, and then moved, but before long he was pounding his fist into Gladio's arm. "Down!" He commanded. "Down! Now!" He was almost retching before Gladio obeyed, and with every heave of his stomach he felt a little of that magic song leave him. No, that magic wasn't really compatible with his own. But it had worked for the house. The fire was out, but apparently the magic had no other outlet inside him but through his stomach. It was terrible. Retching always was, but there was something more to this, the scent of freshly dug earth filled his nose and when it was over and he tried to swallow, the taste of it was in his mouth. "Is that...did I just retch dirt?"

"...Probably?" Above him, Ignis saw Gladio shift uneasily. "I...wouldn't be surprised?"

For a moment, Ignis stared, wishing that he could open both eyes. Wishing that he could see more. "What? Are? You?" He asked between great gasping breaths.

"We don't know. We really don't." Gladio paused for a second, before he added, very softly. "Iris is stronger."

"I shudder to think what stronger means." This magic just in Gladio's hands was a terrifying thing. Not that he didn't trust Gladio with it, but just the purity of it and what it was. It had caused him to vomit up dirt! If Iris was stronger, Ignis didn't want to imagine what her magic might be able to do.

Gladio didn't answer him, instead he laid a hand on Ignis' shoulder and said, "Let's get you home."

"No."

"Iggy--"

"No!" He repeated more loudly, as though that would get it across better. "The tree. I need. I need to see the Wishing Tree." Before he passed out, preferably. He could definitely feel an edge coming on that was his unconsciousness. With the pain, shock, and exhaustion, it was really only a matter of time, maybe only minutes. "I need to know that we're safe."

"And then home? Or better yet to the fucking healer?"

"Yes, after that you can take me wherever you like."

There was a pause. "I'm carrying you."

"Fine." Ignis wasn't sure he could walk it under his own power anyway. He very much felt like a stubborn and stupid man, but at least he was a man that knew his own limits.

Gladio picked him up, and from there forward nothing felt particularly lucid. He was aware that Gladio ran, and that the rocking of it was both terribly aggravating to his wounds and comforting to his soul. He was aware that they passed people finally headed out toward the house as they left, and that Gladio stopped briefly to talk to the healer. He was aware of the very moment the snow stopped falling about halfway between Prompto's house and the Wishing Tree. After that, there was nothing else until Gladio's hand jostled his shoulder a little too roughly.

"Is it--?" He looked, rather than listened for Gladio's answer. Indeed, it seemed that the vast majority of the town had come here first. Most of them were still here even, including any children who were old enough to walk. They circled the tree hand in hand. Nothing was said, but Ignis suspected they were praying. The reason was clear; a large branch, nearly one quarter of its being to one side, had been cleaved clean off. "Is it--?"

"She'll live."

That was a great relief, and judging by how connected to the earth Gladio seemed to be, he felt that if Gladio said that the tree would be fine Ignis was supposed to believe him. However, "She?"

"Yeah?" He felt Gladio shrug. "She's a she?"

"I. I just didn't know they had genders," he mumbled. That edge was much sharper now. He could feel himself failing. "I'll remember."

Gladio's chest vibrated as he chuckled. "She'll like that."

And then he awoke in bed. For a moment he panicked, unsure of anything, but then relaxed as he realized he was in his own room, in his own bed, and, on top of all that, it hurt. He fell back against his pillows with a thump. He took stock of himself. His arm was bandaged, and it took a moment longer than it normally would to confirm that because he still couldn't see out of his left eye.

"I've been told that the eye is okay, but you're probably going to want some fortuna, just in case."

"So the healer's been by then?" Ignis let his head fall to one side, not at all surprised to find Gladio there. After all, he had no idea how long he'd been out. Minutes was probably doubtful, but days was equally unlikely. Gladio wouldn't have moved on yet.

"Yeah," Gladio said with a shrug. "She cleaned you up, stopped the bleeding. Said there wasn't much she could do for the eye itself, and that your own potions would do a better job."

"Yes, that sounds reasonable. Healers are more for broken bones and scraped knees, really. Any finer details are beyond their ken, unless they're right there when it happens." Everything else was what potions were for. A good brewer was always in high demand, and that was why Ignis had always known that no matter where he settled, he'd be accepted, if not liked.

"Broken bones is still pretty impressive. Oh. And she said your skin wouldn't scar if you treated it properly."

"Oh good," Ignis seethed sarcastically. "My beautiful face is safe."

Gladio snorted. "If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't have cared about your scars."

"That is very comforting, thank you." He must have still sounded snippy, because Gladio excused himself almost immediately to go retrieve the potions in question for him to sip from. The medela and the fortuna were on two different shelves, and Ignis rattled off quick instructions for him even as he watched him head down the stairs. While he was gone, Ignis worked on getting himself up into a comfortable sitting position. It was embarrassingly difficult. He seemed to have thrown away most of his energy in the very act of startling awake, and now his arms shook with effort just getting him back up. He'd only scarcely managed a half reclining and half comfortable position by the time Gladio returned with both the potions and a child on his hip.

"Da!" Small hands reached out in their 'want' motion, and Ignis allowed himself to feel soft over it. He suspected that all too soon he'd wonder how he'd ever imagined stewing the child in a potion at all. "Daaaaa."

"Hello, Noctis."

"He didn't want to leave your side," Gladio told him, awkwardly leaning down so that he could slip from his arms onto the bed. "He was really worried, but uh...when he went to stick his hands on your eye bandage I figured I should put him to bed."

"Probably a wise decision." Even now, Noctis had already settled himself down on his lap, eyes wide and sad. Those little hands were also reaching up toward his face, and Ignis had to move them away. He felt them in his own hands, and idly Ignis marveled at both how small they still felt, but also how warm. "The potions?"

"Yeah. Just. One thing before that."

"Yes?"

"Uh. Prompto's house."

"It collapsed, did it?"

"No," Gladio waffled. "Not totally. It's still standing, but not structurally sound, but..."

"But?"

"Prompto and Cindy never came out."

"Ah." Yes. Gladio, and probably none of the other townsfolk, would have known, would they have? It made sense that Gladio probably thought Ignis had been so desperate to put the fire out because of Prompto himself. Yet hadn't he noticed that he'd never called for him? "They didn't come out because they were already gone, Gladio."

"What?"

Ignis nodded slowly, which honestly hurt to do. "Prompto came to me the day before. He." His voice almost broke with emotion just to think on it, and it was even harder now that all the dots were connecting in his head. "He gave up Noctis and said they wouldn't return."

"But. He. Ignis. He was your One!"

"I know." He did know that now. He knew. "I know."

"Why?!"

"They were running, from that thing you saved me from, I suspect."

"The coeurl?" He could practically hear Gladio's mind turning over the idea. Coeurls were animals, they didn't take specific targets, hunt them down like that.

Ignis shook his head, because he knew. He knew the truth now. "That was no coeurl, Gladio. That was a witch in a coeurl's disguise." It wasn't just that even. It was a witch with malicious intent so strong the Wishing Tree had kept it out. It was a witch so strong that it had simply tried to cleave it in half for the trying. There was no stopping a witch like that. Not easily. Not alone.

Ignis bowed his head, allowing his aching forehead to tap gently against Noctis' own. "That thing was hunting them, I realize now." And if that was the truth, then that was probably what Prompto had wanted Noctis for. It wasn't like there weren't a hundred protection rituals that required the use of a firstborn. It had simply been beyond him to even think that they needed more protection than the Wishing Tree could provide. "And if that witch has caught up to them. Well." He was glad he wasn't looking at Gladio. He was fairly certain if he did, he wouldn't be able to hold back the tears. "Well they're already dead."

They were dead.

And that was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHILDREN:
> 
> Though the differences may seem subtle, the way that humans and witches regard their children are quite different. One of the biggest differences perhaps being that outside of learning their magic, devotions, and lessons, witch children are given a lot of freedom. They are simply allowed to go where and when they want, as long as they are home for supper. The general assumption is that because children are so precious, every member of the community will keep an eye on the groups that usually formed of similarly aged children, and no one will allow major harm to come to them.
> 
> By comparison, human children after the ages of seven or eight are expected to be small adults, and while they may attend classes at the local school if there is one, will also be expected to preform chores or assist at work, while only being given small bits of time to play in between things. The groups of children found in witch towns would be considered largely a nuisance to humans, and if they formed at all would only be male children. Female children would never be allowed to cause such ruckus.
> 
> Both humans and witches celebrate their birthdays/namedays as adults do, though, in general, they tend to be far more excited for it. Any holiday or festival that happens is also a cause for celebration, and in this way, witches and humans are much the same.
> 
> Among humans, girl children are considered women at the age of fifteen, and are expected to be married as soon as possible afterward. Boy children are considered men at eighteen, and then often take their roles in family businesses, or leave to seek fortunes.
> 
> Among witches, children are considered to be adults at the age of twenty, and their nameday celebrations tend to be, in some way or another, grander. It is normally at this time that if a witch is going to leave the town and "see the world" as it were that they do. Most witches return to their hometown within the year, or find a new town to settle in, to avoid the stigma of being considered a traveler.
> 
> Witch Children in general are considered to simply be gifts from the gods, regardless of who they belong to, and the idea of harming a child is as abhorrent to them as a whole as cannibalism is to us. To humans only one's one children are considered important or precious, and even then often only male children. Harming children is frowned upon, and yet, it happens all too often without anyone doing anything, which, naturally, leads to a cycle of harm.


	14. In Which Things Come to a Standstill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> Please enjoy. <3

The town settled back down after the attack on the Wishing Tree, and by the time the new year had begun, most of the town had accepted that no one else was coming for them and had settled into their homes to wait out the winter. For most of them, it was like it had never happened. The tree was alive, and none of them particularly cared whether the siblings were around or not.

It wasn't like that for Ignis. The truth of the matter was that Ignis cared as much as the rest of the town seemed not to. There was scarcely a single minute of any day where Ignis wasn't thinking about the whole ordeal. He mourned. He mourned as much as the rest of the town did not. He lived it. He breathed it. It was everything. He couldn't even sleep without waking up in a jolt half the time with the feel of claws in his face and steaming breathing wafting over him, and then the realization that his was most likely how Prompto and Cindy had met their ends not long after he had been spared would crash over him like a tidal wave coming to shore.

Life went on of course. Days became weeks, and weeks began to become months, but it didn't get any easier. He felt hollow inside, like the person who stood at the counter making meals and potions was someone else, and he was just watching through their eyes. It wasn't his. Not his life.

He often found that he hated himself even, for varying reasons. Sometimes it was because he hadn't seen Prompto's need. He hadn't helped him, hadn't known how to help him. He hadn't been trusted with such knowledge. His One...he hadn't trusted him, or come to him for help. Other days he hated himself for even feeling that way. He'd never set out in life to have a One. He'd never much held stock in that sort of love, yet Gladio was right. It had come on so quickly, shifting and changing, but once it was there it stuck. Nevermind that he was dead now and would never return. That didn't destroy the emotion. If anything, it only exacerbated it.

His world seemed to have fallen...silent. He heard things, naturally, he hadn't fallen deaf, but anything anyone said simply seemed to go in one side and drift back out the other. Nothing stuck. Nothing, until one day late in the Month of the Clever.

"I'll be moving onto the next town tomorrow morning."

Not these words, these were not shocking or extraordinary words. They were actually rather normal. It was Shiva-Tide, and so of course Iris would be moving on in the morning. She probably shouldn't have even lingered as long as she had, but it had snowed rather heavily the night before, so she had stayed. Ignis hadn't minded.

"All right."

"Ignis."

"Hm?"

"I'm taking Noctis with me."

Those were the words. They hit him like a physical blow, and he recoiled from the stove as though they truly had been. "You bloody well are not!"

"Ignis--"

"What would make you even think of such a thing? Do you think I'm neglecting him?!" He wasn't! He absolutely was not! He'd accepted his role as Noctis' caretaker. He made sure he had food and clothes, and anything else he could need. That was his job now, it took priority over anything else. He wasn't neglecting the child! No, he loved him. Their child. The only bit he had left--

"No! I don't! But! Ignis! You're dying!"

These words too were like a slap, and they stopped him short. Iris pushed onward.

"You're doing great with Noctis. He's talking even more. Every time I come here he's gotten bigger."

"But?"

"But..." Her voice cracked. "I can see your cheekbones in ways no one should ever see them, and. I think." She got up, her steps short and shy. She reached out with a hesitant hand and took him by the wrist. "Yeah. There. See?" It took a moment for Ignis to see what she meant, but once he did, it was glaringly obvious. She shouldn't be able to her loop her fingers around his wrist and be able to touch them end to end. "And sure, the house was always clean, but I think I could eat off these floors in the worst way. It's clear you're taking care of him, and you love him, but...it's no good if you die doing it."

Her hand slipped away from his arm. "I'm. I'm taking him either way. My mind's made up, but just. Think about it for a bit, okay? Get used to the idea. I'll be here until tomorrow." She took a couple of steps back. "I'm gonna go for a walk, okay?" She waited for a moment or two, probably expecting Ignis to say something more, but he said nothing, and so she left. The door let in the last bit of winter chill behind her.

Where was Noctis? Ignis pulled the food off the heat and went looking. He actually should have been concerned before now, considering that Noctis hadn't made any noise in some time. That was usually an indicator that he was getting into things he shouldn't. He did in fact find him in his study, after having crawled up onto his tables. Ignis scooped the child up in his arms, where he squealed with laughter. It made Ignis smile, just for a moment.

"Da. Lunch?"

"Not quite yet, Noct."

"Okay?"

He wasn't okay.

"Why don't I read you a story?"

Naturally, Noctis liked that idea quite a bit. He wasn't sure how much of the story and concepts Noctis really understood, but he certainly liked the pictures in the old books he'd dug out of his collection. By the end of the story though, he had fallen on Ignis' lap, and Ignis found himself feeling quite stuck in more ways than one. The truth was he didn't want to give up the child. It no longer mattered what he'd originally bought the child for, he did truly love and care for him. As much as Iris perhaps had a point, Ignis didn't really care about what he was doing to himself in his grief, so long as the child was cared for. The thought that was starting to occur to him now was much more troubling.

Noctis wouldn't stay this size forever. Every day the child seemed to get a little bigger, and though Ignis couldn't imagine it now, he knew the child would grow up. Though he hadn't thought about it before, the truth was that he couldn't keep him here until then. It had never actually been a viable option. Noctis was human. That was fine now, while Noctis was still small, but it wouldn't be long before he was of the age where he'd want to play with children his own age, and even more shortly after that he'd get to be of the age where he should show signs of magic. He wouldn't, and then...

Well, as much as humans could not abide witches, witches would not abide a human living in their town, being raised among their children. He hated to say it, but Iris was right. Noctis could not stay with him forever. He knew he would have come to this conclusion eventually, but did it truly have to be so soon?

The look on Iris' face when she returned told him that he answer was yes.

"If you take him," he whispered, trying not not wake Noctis. "You can never bring him back." His resolve would waver. He would try to take him back. It would end in blood. His own, probably.

"I can make sure of that."

The ache that had taken up permanent residence in his heart doubled. This was happening. It felt like he was losing everything again. First Prompto. Now Noctis. "You'll take care of him, won't you?"

"Like I would a child of my own, Ignis. I promise."

By the time morning came, Noctis had figured out something was wrong. It was probably the little things. The general mood of the house, the way some things were packed up in bags, the way Ignis held onto him more than he normally did. He wasn't talking, but he made low worried whining noises that tugged at Ignis' heart, and made him want to call the whole thing off. He did his best to keep his mouth shut.

"It's time," Iris said all too soon.

Ignis took a deep breath. "All right." He could do this. He had to do this. He picked the child up into his arms, knowing that this was the last time he'd ever be able to do so, knowing that this was very likely the very last time they would ever even see each other. He hadn't known with Prompto that it was the last time. Not until it was too late. He wasn't sure if the knowing was making it easier or harder. "I love you, Noctis."

"Love. You?" Little hands smacked on his face, knocking his glasses askew. Normally that was annoyance, but Ignis didn't even think about it just then. Instead he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Noctis' forehead.

"You be good for Iris."

"No."

"Take him." She did, quickly, as though she could detect his waning resolve to do this. That was when Noctis seemed to realize exactly what was happening, and he began to scream. Each sound was a needle through his heart, and he could feel himself physically blanch at each wail - each call for him. "Let me get the door for you." It was something to do with his shaking hands, but moreover, he needed this to be done with now. Or he wasn't sure what he'd do.

"You're doing the right thing, Ignis." Iris assured him as she went to run out. "For both of you."

Ignis said nothing, and simply shut the door tight behind her. It took all his willpower to not follow her each and every second, and to instead sit with his back to the door, waiting until he was sure he was gone somewhere he wouldn't know to follow. That only took about an hour, but then he found he couldn't move. He didn't have the desire to. Noctis was gone. The only thing that had kept him going these last few months, and he'd willingly just gave him up. It didn't matter that he truly still felt like he'd made the right choice for the child. He'd given him up. His son.

There was also Noctis' screaming...It had hurt worse than he'd ever thought it would when he'd been planning to boil him alive. He wasn't sure he could ever stop thinking about the sound. It would easily become something else to haunt his dreams.

He was still sitting there thinking about it when house was almost completely dark with the onset of night. Without warning, the door against his back rattled harshly as someone pounded against it. "Ignis?!" Gladio's voice reached his ears a moment later. "Ignis, let me in!" Complete bafflement seemed to radiate from his very hands as he pushed himself up and opened the door. It wasn't a trick. There stood Gladio, arms laden with several large bags.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed at him before he realized how rude that sounded. "Not that I'm unhappy to see you." Happy would be too strong a word for him to apply to anything at his point, but he was also never unhappy to see Gladio. "But why?"

"Iris contacted me." Ignis quickly moved aside as Gladio made his way into the house, and Ignis' brain bothered to be further baffled by those bags. He was used to seeing Gladio with one bag. It was the bag that held his wares, but Gladio was currently burdened with three bags, all of them equally large. "She told me that she had taken Noctis."

"Ah."

"And she told me you were gonna need help for a while." He let the bags slide down from his shoulders to the floor by his table. "So here I am."

"Gladio, I--"

"Don't say you don't need the help, because you do. One look at you is enough, because damn do you look like shit."

Ignis managed a shaking laugh through tears that had started to well up in his eyes. That was something Prompto had said to him once or twice, wasn't it? That he looked terrible after a night of little sleep or some such. It was familiar, too familiar, and Ignis found himself pushing up his glasses to press the heels of his palms up into his eyes. "I cannot ask you to stay here, Gladio." He was a wanderer, through and through. He and his sister seemed to not like staying in one spot for more than a few days, and what Gladio was suggesting, well, it was going to take much more than a few days.

"You're not asking. I'm telling you." Gladio paused, and he felt arms wrap around his shoulders awkwardly. "And I wouldn't do this for just anyone, you know. You've got to be pretty special for me to be willing to sit tight for a while, and you are, Iggy. You're really special."

"Don't say things you don't mean, Gladio."

"I'm in love with you." Ignis' breath hitched in his throat. "I'm in love with you, and that means I'll do anything I can to help get you through this. If that means staying for a while...I'll stay a while. Now," Gladio's hands rubbed up and down Ignis' arms in what was probably meant to be a soothing manner, but Ignis was still back on the word love. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Last night, I think."

"Then let's get some food in you before bed. Okay?" Gladio moved away from him, and Ignis felt like he could breathe again. Love. How could Gladio love him? It seemed impossible, and yet, of all the things Gladio was, Gladio was even less of a liar than most witches.

"Gladio?"

"Yeah, Iggy?"

"What if I...never get better than this?"

He heard Gladio chuckle lightly, and then the man was back in his space, and he felt lips press against his forehead tenderly. That word rung out in his head again. Love. He didn't feel worth Gladio's affections right now. "If that's what happens, then I guess I'm staying here forever. It won't come to that though. You're strong, Iggy. You'll bounce back. You just need some time. One step at a time, and steps one and two are making sure you actually get food and sleep."

When Gladio moved back this time, he took Ignis' wrist in his own and lightly tugged at it. Ignis followed, because he didn't know what else to do.

It was to be like that for a long time. Gladio pulled, and Ignis followed, because there was naught else for him to do. Eventually, Ignis found that he didn't even mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ducks and covers to avoid being murdered*
> 
> Okay! So! Next chapter will be the start of part two. Part two is fifteen years later.
> 
> Furthermore, there will not be a new chapter posted to this story in two weeks. Plzdon'tkillme. As some of you noticed last chapter this story is now part of a series. In two weeks time I will be posting the second part of this series. That story is a oneshot that sort of briefly glosses over Prompto's past and POV.
> 
> Hopefully that oneshot will answer some of your questions! ...Or maybe it'll just give you even more questions!
> 
> Either way, I'll see you back in this story in a month.


	15. In Which There is a Spice Caddy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY THURSDAY?!
> 
> Why Thursday? Because I am posting a chapter in something else tomorrow, and I hate posting two chapters in one day. That meant you were all going to get this chapter a day early or a day late, and I figured a day early is better than a day late.
> 
> Gentle Reminder that this chapter starts 15 years after the last one did.
> 
> Please enjoy this chapter! <33333

Ignis could not count how many times Camelia had told him to burn it the rest of the way down.

It wasn't as though she was wrong to say so. It did nothing good for anyone. It was structurally unsound, an eyesore, unable to be repaired, if anything, it would have to be rebuilt. There was no point in rebuilding it. She was right, what he ought to do was take out the things inside, mostly ruined themselves, give them away to be sold, or just sell them himself, and then burn it down. It wouldn't be difficult, with his penchant for fire he could start it slow and controlled. Smolder it rather than a great flame so that the humans didn't notice. The forest could reclaim the land then. In theory everything would finally move on.

It wasn't Camelia's choice though. Everyone agreed that the place was his by rights, and that made it Ignis' choice. Ignis had yet to choose to burn it down. He thought about it sometimes. Once or twice over the years he'd even made the trek down to the house in the early mornings to scope out the best way to go about it. Inevitably when he got down there he'd find himself overcome with emotion and unable to go through with it.

So it stayed.

Despite it being an eyesore and structurally unsound it wasn't a bad thing for the most part. It didn't move or anything, it was just there, and not of a lot of the townspeople went out that way. For months at a time the old burned out house was just a item on the edge of his consciousness. He would almost forget about it. Then days like today would happen, where someone would inform him that the children were playing inside of it, and that made it his job to get them out. Again.

Walking out to he edge of town to shoo children out of his dead One's property was not the way Ignis wanted to spend any of his mornings. Naturally, by the time he got there, he was in a rather foul mood.

Getting the children out was never a particularly difficult task. All it really took was walking inside the place and yelling at them. This morning it was, "You lot know you're not supposed to be in here!" His words made hiding children giggle and squeal, the sounds of their feet skittering across floors as they ran and hid.

His eyes caught movement over toward what he remembered being one of Cindy's bigger projects. If he caught one and removed it, the others would follow. He darted toward the old project, careful not to touch it in fear of toppling it. He was fortunate enough to manage to get his arms around the waist of a small boy, who Ignis lifted as the child screamed and wriggled in his hold. "Out with you!" Every step toward the door was a fight. "All of you!"

The boy broke his hold and ran, quickly followed by three other children. All of them singing:

_"Ignis the Brewer was such a loser,_  
_He found his One and lost him anon_  
_Now, since his heart isn't whole_  
_He just sleeps with his whore!"_

The little shits. All of them were under the age of ten. What did they know of what had happened fifteen years ago? What did they know of Ones? They certainly didn't know anything at all of Gladio. A whore. Who had taught them to think of him that way? He knew. It was the same place they'd even gotten the idea for the song from. Their parents. Not for the first time he considered moving. There was nothing here for him, nothing he couldn't get elsewhere. If he bothered to remain relatively close even Gladio would still be in the circuit. He considered it, but Ignis knew he would stay. Memories anchored him here.

"I miss you," he said into the empty house, his tongue tasting the burnt wood in the air. "I know it doesn't mean anything, but I do."

The walk back to his own home felt twice as long as the walk out.

It was evening the next time he spoke to anyone. He truthfully had been expecting someone, so it wasn't a surprise to hear a knock at the door, yet, when he opened it and found one of the children there, held in place by his mother pulling at his ear, it was a complete surprise. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Scientia." Her voice was brisk and rough, perhaps with yelling at the child over whatever had gotten him in such trouble. "But I think this belongs to you." The item she held out to him then nearly stole his breath away. Oh. How right she was that it belonged to him, well beyond the capacity that all the things that were in that place belonged to him.

It was nearly black with tarnish and age, but the item she held was very clearly the spice caddy. The payment for helping Prompto save Cartanica so many years ago now. He'd never been able to finish it, and Ignis had not much thought about it until now. Now, with it being held out to him, his legs threatened to collapse beneath him, and the only thing keeping his eyes dry were the people in front of him. "Thank you," he managed softly as he reached out for it. "I would have missed it."

"Now what do we say?!"

Ignis turned his eyes toward the boy, who looked at him with defiance in his eyes. "Sorry." Ignis bit back a snort. That was the least sincere sounding apology he'd ever heard. Yet.

"Apology accepted." They'd see each other again in a few months, he knew it.

The boy was dragged off by the ear, and with them out of his frame of sight he saw the person he'd actually expected to see at the door lingering back, just far enough that he wasn't intruding on the moment. The sight of Gladio was almost enough to put a smile on his face, even in the wake of receiving the item in his hands. "Come on," he called softly, moving away from the door, but leaving it open. Gladio would follow.

The door shut just as he sat the spice caddy down on the table. Before he could turn, large hands sat themselves on his shoulders, and this time Ignis did allow himself a smile. "Hello there."

"Hey," Gladio rumbled.

"Welcome home."

A chuckle, deep, yet soft and pleasing filled his ears. "I'm home." His hands slid down from his shoulders and wrapped around Ignis' waist, preventing him to from turning around. Instead he was stuck looking at the caddy. Gladio was looking at it too. Ignis knew because a chin set down on his shoulder, and the question was asked. "So what's this about?"

"The middle children were playing down there again. One of them thought to nick this."

"Silver. Must be one of his."

"Yes," Ignis agreed with a heaving sigh. "I've seen it before. He. He was making it for me."

Gladio hummed. Ignis more felt the vibration than heard it. "It looks pretty undamaged. Why don't you clean it up and keep it here?"

The thought filled Ignis with a sense of horror, yet also a feeling of longing. "It wasn't...finished."

"It's never gonna be finished." He paused. "There's nothing wrong with keeping bits of him around." Gladio said that, but it didn't feel that way. Part of the reason he could never bring himself to take all the things out and to burn the rest of it down was that it simply didn't feel right to do so. They said it belonged to Ignis now, and both Prompto and Cindy were dead, but it felt wrong to touch their things, to take them and fold the workable ones into his life, even one that had been meant for him eventually anyway.

"Why don't I help you?" Gladio pressed. "We'll polish it up and put some ingredients inside. After dinner." Arms tightened around him, drawing their bodies closer and he felt Gladio's head shift, lips pressing hot against his neck. "Unless there's something else you'd rather do after dinner."

If Gladio had been seeking to lighten the mood a little, Ignis would have to admit that he'd succeeded. He felt a laugh die in his throat, and he turned his head to press his own lips to whatever bit of Gladio they'd reach. "All right," he conceded. "After dinner, and only if you help."

"Sounds good to me."

They ate some of the stew that Ignis had been let simmer nearly all day and chatted over the events of the week. Gladio always had more to say than Ignis, but Gladio always listened indulgently to his bits and pieces too. After their bowls were empty and the rest of the stew put aside, Ignis dug out his rarely used polish and began to set about cleaning the spice caddy. The vials that had once filled it were gone, probably shattered in the initial fire, so Gladio set himself to the task of finding bottles that would fit nicely into the little slots. Eventually, there were enough mismatched bottles to fill the caddy. Gladio's next task was to fill them with the spices and ingredients and ingredients Ignis specified.

Even with having two tasks instead of one, Gladio was finished before Ignis was. It was such an intricate piece that getting into all the little nooks and crannies to clean them was both difficult and time consuming. He managed in the end though, and on the table it sat practically glowing in the candlelight. Together they filled it with the bottles, and Ignis spun it. It whirled around like a well greased piece of machinery, not catching or slowing. Even after fifteen years in a dilapidated building it was incredibly well made and it showed. Prompto had been...incredibly skilled.

"Where are you going to put it?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Ignis looked over at the setup by his stove. "I'll clear off a space for it tomorrow."

"Yeah. Tomorrow. Because now it's time for bed." After he turned down the lamp and blew the candles, Ignis was hauled up by his waist without warning. He was then thrown over Gladio's shoulder, and up the stairs they went.

"I hope you know that I hadn't been planning on arguing with that statement."

"I know," he said in a tone that was all too happy, the cheeky bastard. "But this is much more fun."

Fun stopped at the bedroom as Gladio sat him back down on his feet and they got into bed. There had been a time, years really, where sleep had not come easily, now with Gladio's presence behind him he fell asleep almost instantly.

In the morning he didn't wake until Gladio was already gone to market, and Ignis didn't bother to follow. Gladio had made it clear years ago now that Ignis was welcome to any of his wares, free of charge. _"What's mine is yours now."_ He remembered him saying. _"Just as you freely share what's yours with me."_ Part of his love, he recognized it as now. A gesture of love and wanting to intertwine their lives in what ways they could. It was sweet, in Gladio's way, and so he didn't disturb it by going down to the market.

He spent his morning setting up a potion to brew, during which he took a couple minutes to come to terms with the fact that it was already the month of the Pious and that he ought to start brewing his winter potions now, and then spent the rest of his time clearing off and making space for the caddy.

"It looks good there," Gladio said when he returned sometime after lunch.

"Are you sure?" Ignis asked, leaning into Gladio's idle touch. "Not too crowded?"

"Nah. It's perfect." Gladio placed a kiss to the crown of his head. "Just like you."

They spent the rest of the afternoon in bed. Much of the evening as well.

Gladio left the next morning with the promise he'd be back next week, which was now the normal thing. He was here two days a week. Ignis couldn't imagine how much that must limit his routes. It made him feel guilty sometimes, but then, he'd never asked Gladio to limit them. He had never asked Gladio to stay close. That had been his own choice, and Ignis could not say he didn't like having someone to sleep next to, even for just two days a week.

He slept uneasily that night. He always did the night after Gladio left again. He tossed and turned until he finally fell into dreams sometime after midnight. He woke much later in the morning, later than he usually did even. The sun was high in the sky, but Ignis convinced himself that this was fine. That gave the potion over his fire to properly age. He should get said potion bottled up soon though, so he dressed in some haste and hurried down his stairs.

He stopped short to realize that he was not alone in his home.

At his dining table there sat a boy - almost a man. He wore dark clothes that matched dark hair, and by his feet sat a large bag. His face was turned downward toward his lap, where there sat a cat that nimble fingers stroked over and over again. Even as he stood there in shock the boy seemed to realize he was being watched. The bag was opened, the cat gently pushed inside it before a face that was both familiar and distant looked up at him with a grin that met sparkling blue eyes.

"Hey, Dad!" Noctis said. The smile faded a bit as he seemed to notice something amiss. "Where's other Dad?"


	16. In Which a Mug of Tea is Slammed Upon the Table

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> I'm at the point where I'm trying to speed through writing this now. For a little while, I was juggling myself between three projects, and actually ate up my entire cushion, but now, while I have other ideas I want to start writing, I want to get us all through THIS story. I'm not sure how long part two is actually going to end up being, but keep an eye out for the number of chapters at the top with each update. If you see a number instead of a question mark, know I'm probably going to switch to weekly updates. <3
> 
> PLEASE ENJOY. <3

Ignis could not believe that this was currently his life.

If you had told him only two days ago that he would be sitting at his table with the boy he'd given up over a decade ago, he would have laughed you out of town. For the first few years Ignis had held something between a hope and a fear that Iris would return to town with Noctis, and give him back for some reason or another. When the boy's tenth nameday had rolled around, he'd given the notion up, for better or worse. A boy ten years of age was big enough to be helpful, and that meant Iris would probably be more keen to keep him, if he was still alive. He'd simply assumed he was. He could have asked. Gladio was certainly still in touch with Iris, and probably visited Noctis quite regularly. He'd never asked. He didn't want to go down that path and become obsessed. He'd held fast to the idea that he'd done what was best for both of them at the time. The child had been so young he probably couldn't even remember them.

Yet here he was. Noctis sat across from him, a mug of hot tea in his hands, a dumbfounded expression on his face. "What do you mean he's _dead_?" The bite to the words said anger more than shock.

Ignis sighed. "I don't know what Iris told you--"

"Mom told me a lot of things! Including that he was your One, and you his!" Fairytales then. She'd been feeding him joyful little fairytales where they'd been happy and in love. Things that had never happened. "Did you even go looking?!"

"Gladio confirmed it for me." There were a lot of things from that time period that were jumbled and fuzzy, so Ignis could not remember if Gladio had gone before or after he'd given Noctis away, but he definitely remembered him coming back and telling him that there was a spot, about two days out from the town, where he abruptly stopped being able to track them, using whatever method it was he used. Gladio's methods never were really clear, just that they worked.

"Did he find bodies?"

Gladio's voice rung in his head. _'Animals must have already dragged them off in the snow.'_   "No."

"Then you don't know for sure." Ignis flinched to watch Noctis bring the mug up to his lips and drain it all in about three long drafts. He then slammed it down on the table and was standing up to his feet, his bag was pulled up over his shoulder. "I'll find him for you. I'll prove he's alive."

"Noctis--" And then he was running toward the door. Oh no, not this sort of thing again. He didn't need this sort of thing again. Ignis got up, the chair clattering behind him, and ran after him. "Noctis!" When he reached the doorway he found that there was no one in sight. He spent most of the day looking around the town and asking the townspeople, but no one had seen Noctis coming or going.

He felt as though he'd had breakfast with a ghost.

It was almost absurd how normal the rest of his week felt. He made potions, and people bought potions, and he was otherwise left alone. It was completely normal, but that morning threw everything off. The more he thought about it the more skewed it was. If he had come to town with someone it ought to have been fine, but he'd been alone, so how had he gotten in? The tree ought to have stopped a human from entering town, and Noctis had been so sure he could find Prompto, as though he could simply find anything. It all just rang off, but there was no one to ask, not until Gladio came into town for the weekend.

It was almost a torture waiting, and the longer he did the more he wondered if it really had been a ghost. Then Gladio's knock came to his door, and Ignis felt terrible about waiting for him just to ask. He'd wait, at least until after dinner, he thought. He'd wait. Gladio didn't wait. He was just taking his boots off to settle in for the evening, barely through the door when he asked. "Did you get a visit from Noctis this week?"

Ignis did not think that bode well. "How did you know?"

"Iris said that Noctis left her sometime late last week. She woke up and he was gone."

"You don't sound incredibly...worried about that."

Gladio shrugged his shoulder, eyebrows pinched downward. "Noct's a big boy. He's not likely to get himself killed, and he'd been talking about leaving for a while."

"He has?"

"Yeah. He's always felt guilty, I think. He thinks he's a burden to Iris, that he prevents her from living the life she wants. He's been saying he's going to give her her freedom since he hit puberty. Coming here?" Gladio shrugged. "A natural extension of that. He always talked about coming home. If you asked him where home was he'd describe here."

"That's the other thing, Gladio," Ignis stepped closer into Gladio's space. He reached out and grasped at his shirt, feeling a bit like a child, yet also wanting to shake him violently. "He's a human. How did he get past the Wishing Tree?"

"Ah." It was at this point that Gladio's face got a little red. Embarrassment? Fear? Pressure? Guilt? "Yeah. About that. Noct..." He paused and took in a deep breath before he pushed it all out in one breath. "Noct's been doing magic since he was five."

"What?!" The shock hit him hard. The ground was unsteady, the room was spinning, and the next thing he was really aware of was Gladio's hands on his shoulders keeping him upright in a chair. He wasn't aware that he had sat down. "He's a human, Gladio! He was born to human parents! He was their firstborn!" That was all irrefutable fact. Both he and Prompto had traded their services for a firstborn human child. A human child he had eventually given away specifically because he was human and thus had no magic and no future in a town full of witches! "What do you mean he's been doing magic since he was five?!"

"I mean exactly that." Gladio released Ignis shoulders, but only after Ignis had set his arms on the table. It felt like he was going to vomit. "Iris contacted me one day and told me he was shifting."

"Shifting? Shape shifting?" Ignis certainly hoped not, shape shifting was not an innate skill he wanted to see. All it did was bring back all too vivid images of a coeurl standing over him, hot breath in his face, and telling him he knew he'd been close to Prompto.

"No," Gladio huffed, and Ignis felt relief. "It's more like. _Stepping_. He takes a step and he's somewhere else."

Through all the other emotions that swam in his blood, Ignis managed a laugh. "I bet Iris loved that." Children got stuck up in trees and into other sorts of trouble easily enough as it was. A child that _stepped_ this way and that and you had no guarantee of where it ended up? His own uncle had not been pleased when Ignis had learned to use the wind to transport him from place to place, and that had been when he'd nearly been an adult.

"She didn't mind, once he got a handle on it, but I admit, she thought about bringing him back at first. She didn't know what to do."

"She could have," Ignis rasped out. "I was...better, by then. I was better, and--" he paused while his stomach wanted to heave again. "And the other half of relinquishing him was that he wouldn't be accepted here without magic. I'm just--" He hated this, this turmoil soup of emotion and the not knowing what to say. He didn't want to say anything. He wanted to throw things. All this time. All this time he thought he'd done the right thing for Noctis, giving him to a life that wouldn't care so much about the lack of magic in his blood, and all along he'd had it. "I'm stuck on how. I swear on all the six he was a human, Gladio!" He hadn't had a witch's mark, he hadn't been born to witches, he'd had nothing!" The how. The how was lost on him.

"Isn't there a legend? About humans who attain magic every few generations?"

Ignis put his face in his hands. "There is. Every thirteen generations in a family, if there is even a drop of witch's blood in the ancestry, the child will be booned with a great deal of magical prowess. That is the legend, but it is just that, Gladio! No one has ever truly seen one."

Gladio spoke softly. "But you don't exactly go looking either, do you? Witches don't exactly go into human towns examining the children, and checking if witches and humans commingled and when. And we know what humans do to anything magic, if they can."

Burning. The very idea that this legend was truth, and there had been hundreds, potentially thousands of witch children burned by their own parents and friends... This time Ignis did get up and run for the sink to heave up the contents of his stomach. When he was finished he shook, and Gladio's hand rubbed his back. The motion was slow and gentle, up and down, side to side. It helped, a little.

"Do you want to stop this conversation here for now? Pick it up again later?"

It took Ignis three shaky breaths before he could speak. "That sounds like a good idea. Why don't we have dinner first?"

Dinner was somber. It was tired. They didn't talk. Though Ignis was grateful for it, it also left his mind open to other things. This... _stepping_ that Noctis apparently did, it certainly explained how Noctis had gotten into town. It also explained how he'd disappeared without anyone seeing him. He'd gotten to the door and _stepped_ away without a trace.

"Are you angry at me?" Ignis moved his eyes to glance over at Gladio. The food on his plate was cold. He must not have touched it for some time. "For not telling you?"

"A little," he admitted, even though in that moment there was no anger in him at all. There was only something heavy, numb, and tired inside of him. "But I also know that was our silent agreement. I didn't ask you how he is, and you didn't mention that he exists. That was always how it was. I didn't ask because I always thought that if I knew anything about him, I'd go take him back. If I had known he'd grown into magic, I most certainly would have. It still might have been the wrong choice. I am angry. A little. It's not only aimed at you though, and it will pass."

They sat for a little while longer, the crackle of his dying fire the only sound breaking up the air. Ignis had just about decided to get up and put the plates to wash when Gladio spoke again. "What did he say when he came?"

"Not much, really. He was confused as to why Prompto was not here with me. He acted like he remembered us."

"He's always acted like that."

"Has he? He shouldn't. He was far too young even when he left."

"Yeah. He was always one of those spooky children. You know? The ones who know too much? Iris said he would be normal for months, but then he'd just say something, something a kid shouldn't know or remember." Ignis hmmed. He remembered that he had often been called precocious, but this sounded like it went beyond that. "He always said he wanted to come back someday."

Come back. Come back to a place he shouldn't even remember, yet he'd gotten here with ease. Perhaps it would be easier to just assume he remembered most everything, except that Prompto was dead and Ignis had given him up as though he didn't care. "But he wasn't angry? If I'd been given away twice I'd be furious."

"No. Not angry. Just...longing." Gladio paused, but then he pushed, "Is that all he said?"

"No, he was definitely angry when I told him Prompto was dead. He left after that, saying he'd prove me wrong and that as long as there wasn't a body he as still alive."

Gladio gave a small hum. "He'll be back." And that was the last that was said on the matter. To say things went back to normal would be incorrect and wrong, but, they didn't speak anymore on Noctis. It was probably for the best, if Ignis was perfectly honest. He'd already retched once, he wasn't sure he could take much more.

Gladio kept to his normal schedule, he left at his normal time, and Ignis was alone with his thoughts for the rest of the week. Alone it wasn't hard to get lost in them, no matter how hard he tried not to. How could he just forget and move on from the fact that the boy he'd given up was a witch? It shouldn't have really changed anything. It couldn't change what he'd done, yet the notion dogged his every step, thought, and action. It wasn't in everything he did, but it was still there, like someone standing at the edge of his peripheral vision. Never quite gone.

Though Gladio had said that Noctis would be back, Gladio himself returned before Noctis did. Concern crossed over Gladio's face for the first time when he told him that. His arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows knit together. Yes, Ignis thought, Gladio certainly hadn't meant eventually, he'd meant soon. "Is there any way you can get in touch with him? Like you do with Iris?"

"I could try," Gladio conceded, "but it'd probably be simpler to just have someone go check in and come back."

"All right."

Even after all these years it was still an odd feeling to watch Gladio work magic. Everyone had their innate magic, the sort of thing they worked without thinking. For Ignis it was the elements, fire chief among them, for his uncle it had always been whatever weather he'd needed outside, for Noctis is was apparently _stepping_ between space and popping up somewhere different. For everything else there was a process. Gladio wasn't a witch, nothing he did with magic had a process. All that he did, he did as simply as breathing.

When Ignis watched him do magic he could still taste the earth in his mouth. He could still recall the furious and overwhelming tingle of foreign magic in his veins. Gladio was something else. Not even he understood or knew what it was. It wasn't just the earth he seemed to hold dominion over, it was nature itself. Plants, animals, stone, and dirt, they were all his.

It was never flashy, watching Gladio work magic. Even now, all he did was push open the kitchen window and hold out a hand. Within seconds there was a wren in the palm of his hand. He spoke to it softly, one large finger stroking down its head and back, like most people stroked kittens, all affection. Ignis knew it was already in his thrall, and that was what made his hair stand on end. No trying, no work. It just was.

"Thank you," he heard him say to the wren before he released it. "It's going to find Noctis," Gladio told him as he closed the window. "And then report back."

"All--" He couldn't even get the full agreement to that out before the wren was back at the window, pecking at the glass fervently, the sound of its song muffled, yet strong. "I don't think you quite got the message across."

"No," Gladio said sounding puzzled. "It's saying--" There was a knock at the door. "--He's here."

Sure enough, when he opened the door there was the same young man, dark hair, dark clothes, and brilliant blue eyes. He looked a little worse for wear. He needed a bath and good meal, plain and simple. Relief flooded through his system, and yet he did not let it show. He couldn't. He couldn't show how attached he still was. "It was good of you to knock this time."

"You _were_ the sarcastic dad, weren't you?"

Ignis bit back the response that he really hadn't been much of a father at all. He had, until the end there, planned on boiling him for a potion after all. "You're in luck. We were just about to have dinner."

"Before that--"

"No," Ignis cut him off sharply. "No. I don't want to hear what you have to say. You are coming in, eating, you're to have a bath, and then bed. Whatever it is you've found or not found can wait until morning." When he was mentally prepared to hear anything, whether it was nothing or whether it was a grave or bones. Now he could not handle it. Now he could barely deal with the boy before him.

"But--"

"It will keep. Or I can shut this door."

"Surely you know by now that a door can't keep me out."

No, Ignis supposed. It hadn't kept him out the first time, and if he could simply _step_ wherever he wanted, it wouldn't keep him out of most anywhere. That was true. "It'll get my point across though, now won't it?"

Noctis gave him a look to rival the ones all the town's children gave him whenever he was near. Arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed in defiance, and two could play that game. They did, for what felt like several minutes before, without unfolding his arms or lightening his gaze, Noctis said, "Fine. In the morning."

"I'm glad you can see reason. Come in." Noctis did, and sat himself down at a chair at the table. Ignis closed the door, knowing this would the most awkward meal he'd ever eaten by far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unpopular Opinion: Gladio is a Disney Princess.


	17. In Which There is Entirely Too Much Swearing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday! <3
> 
> Please enjoy.

"I told you he can sleep anywhere."

"His neck and back are going to kill him when he tries to move."

Gladio snorted. "That's clearly not his problem right now." No, Ignis supposed, it wasn't. At that particular moment, Noctis looked quiet comfortable with his head lolling back, half falling out of the chair, with a cat (had the cat been black last time? Ignis couldn't quite remember.) in his lap. He could have at least chosen to fall asleep with his head against the table. His back would have still hurt, but at least his neck would have been mostly spared.

With a sigh, Ignis went into his potion stores, pulled down a small vile and set on the table. He'd want that when he woke up, if he wasn't already completely paralyzed from the neck down. "I'll start breakfast."

"That'll wake him."

It did, by the time the sausages were sizzling in the pan Noctis had apparently decided to undertake the arduous task of moving. The cat was ejected from his lap, where it then came over to Ignis and wound around his legs affectionately. "It's your own fault," Gladio told him in a tone all too happy, "You couldn't have taken any of the other options."

"I didn't plan it that way!" Noctis hissed something under his breath. Ignis suspected it was a word that if he'd only been a little younger would have gotten his mouth washed out with soap. "I was petting TinTin and just slipped off." He grumbled again, and this time Ignis was sure he was swearing. He said nothing, though he was sorely tempted to.

"Drink the potion, Noctis. It will help." Noctis did. Ignis didn't watch him, but he heard the slide of glass against wood and then the sound of the cork being pulled out.

"Gods that tastes like ass."

"Do you know what ass tastes like, Noct?"

"Like _this_ , Gladio."

Gladio chuckled. "I assure you, ass does not taste anything like those potions."

There was a pause as long and filled with as much suffering as Ignis was currently feeling. "I really did not need to know that."

There was more chuckling. "You're welcome."

Thankfully any and all conversation about asses and how his potions tasted stopped at that point and Ignis was able to cook in peace. Peace lasted until after breakfast had been eaten, at which point it was clear that Noctis was finally fully awake and no longer willing to put off talking anymore. He didn't say anything, but he leaned back in his seat, arms folded across his chest, lips pursed.

"Yes, all right," Ignis said as he gathered the plates and cutlery from the table. "I did promise." He didn't really think there was anyone who was ever ready to have old wounds torn back open, but Noctis was determined to say his bit, and so Ignis supposed he'd have to deal with whatever part of the grieving process that threw him back into. "Go ahead, I'm just going to put these in the sink."

"I found Dad. Like I said I would."

"I see." If he'd found him, he'd probably found a grave. So he had a grave. That was...perhaps better than he could have hoped for.

"I found him alive."

The plates clattered to the ground as he dropped them from his grasp. "What?!" This had to be a dream, a stress dream. He'd been having them all week. Of course the natural escalation of them would be this. It couldn't be real. It took every ounce of what he had inside of him to simply turn around and sit back in his chair, spilled plates and cutlery be dammed. It would wait. It didn't even matter. Soon he'd wake up and find he was still in bed. "All right. You have my attention."

Considering that he'd never even considered the idea that Prompto might be alive, he didn't have much expectation of what the continuance of such news might be. Where he was? Ignis had no expectations, perhaps in a town off in the south or west, married to someone else, with a child of his own blood, finally away from the coeurl. Gone into hiding deep in a cave? Of all the answers as to where Prompto was, the one he perhaps expected the least was the one he got.

"There's a castle in the north. Far from our route. It's...weird." Noctis nose scrunched up as he seemed to try to gather both words and emotion. "So there's a castle, right? But there's a forest between the castle and a human town. The human town fears the forest. They don't go in it. They don't trust anything that comes out of it. The castle is in the center of the forest. Dad and Aunt Cindy are there. Somewhere around there."

So the dream was saying that Cindy had survived as well. How nice of it.

"You're not listening to me!" Ignis opened his eyes. (When had he closed them?) "He needs help!"

"I suppose what you think should happen now is that we all drop everything, travel north to this castle surrounded by forest, kidnap Prompto and Cindy, and come back."

"Uh. Yeah. Pretty much!"

And Ignis had pretty much just hit his limit. He stood up. "I'm going back to bed." If it was a dream, he'd wake up, if it wasn't, he had to come to terms that what Noctis was talking about was very much the things of fairytales. Didn't Noctis know that fairytales very rarely had happy endings? Had Iris told him any of the more traditional Fairytales? Gods, the more he thought about it, the more like a fairytale the whole thing was. A son, long given up, returns and in turn finds a lover and a friend long lost, thought dead, and they have to make a long arduous trip into a an ancient place to save them. No. It was too much. He went up to bed.

He didn't sleep. How could he when he could hear Gladio and Noctis arguing downstairs? It was too far away and they were too quiet about it for him to properly hear what they were saying, but it ended in a slamming of the front door, and then the nearly inaudible tinkling of the plates and cutlery being picked up. By the time that Gladio was climbing up the stairs, Ignis had accepted that this wasn't a dream, and wasn't sure if that made this better or worse.

"He's not lying," Gladio said just as Ignis felt the bed dip from his sitting on its edge.

"I...didn't think he was." It sounded like the oddest thing, even from his own lips, but it was true. He hadn't assumed Noctis to be lying. "I just don't think it can be real." He was trapped in a castle in the middle of a forest. He would only be more unrealistic and surreal if he said that Prompto was living on the moon unable to return. Yet what purpose would there be to lying? If they went, the lie would be revealed eventually. If they didn't, there would be guilt, and nothing good would come of that either. "Did he say anything else about it? Did he say he saw him? Or Cindy?"

"No." A hand grasped at his shoulder, a thumb rubbed circles into it. "He said he was told they were there. When I asked him who told him that he waffled, agitated, not by the question, but more...not having an answer he wanted to give. That was about the time he went for a walk."

Ignis sighed. He had the sinking suspicion he was going to be sighing a lot for the foreseeable future. "He really thought we'd just drop everything and go, didn't he?"

"Of course he does. He truly believes in this, and winter won't be far away now. He's been with Iris too long to not be hyper aware of winter. I suspect he's thinking of the time constraint. Go north and be back by winter. If we don't go now, or soon, we wouldn't be able to make the round trip in time and they would be stuck until spring. I don't think Noctis wants them to be more for a minute longer than they have to be."

"And what if he doesn't want to come back?" Ignis turned over to look at Gladio. He looked sad. Ignis supposed he couldn't blame him. "What if they're not trapped there? What if it's beautiful and paradise to them? What if they're happy?" It was an utterly painful thought, that he had been missing and mourning his One, and Prompto had simply moved onto something infinitely better. It was painful, yet it was a distinct possibility. A prisoner locked in a lonely tower was far from the only option in this scenario.

"There's only one way to find out."

To go. The way to find out was to go. To take Noctis up at his word, go north and...see him. He both wanted to more than anything, and feared it more than his own death. "I'm afraid," he admitted softly.

"I would be too. I am. Too, but--" Ignis watched him lick his lips. "But even if it's nothing but what you said, there'd be closure. You could come back, finally get rid of that place and its things. Move on. Finally, truly, move on with your life." Gladio leaned down and pressed his lips against his forehead. The gesture was normally comforting, but at that moment Ignis found it to make him feel quite like a child. "Take some time to think about it, all right?" He stood up. Compared to how he was lying down, his height made Ignis feel even smaller. "I'll be downstairs."

Ignis watched him go and then turned himself back over and sank deep into thought. Thinking was normally something that Ignis was very good at. He was normally quite excellent at thinking through problems and finding solutions. Normally, such dilemmas were rooted in facts and research, and this, this very much was not. There wasn't much solid about it. He had what Noctis had told him and then he had two options; stay or go.

For most witches it wouldn't even be a mental debate. Stay. What kind of fool would uproot themself for someone who had left? There was only a very limited amount of time in a witch's life where traveling was considered acceptable, and if not traveling wouldn't result in terrible inbreeding and other problems, Ignis was fairly certain even that would be deemed not right. They were as much plants as the trees they built their towns around. You planted your roots young and you stayed. You stayed forever, unless something truly forced you to move. Sometimes it wasn't even then. He'd known towns that had gotten warning about humans oncoming and some left for safety and others...stayed. Ignis had never understood that kind of plant mentality. He wanted to grow and keep his roots, but not at the expense of his life.

Anyone else in this town would not go. Prompto had willingly left fifteen years ago. One or not, that would have been enough of an answer. As a fellow witch he ought to follow that logic as well. Prompto had moved on from him that night so long ago. He too should leave it behind - should have left it behind.

The house was proof enough that he had not. Anyone else in this town would have long since had it destroyed. Cut those ties, the decaying roots, it was important. Not him. There was a great deal of merit in what Gladio said. Go, even if it went poorly it was a form of closure he hadn't had. Death had not been closure, but rejection could be. So could liberation, if Noctis was correct and that was the truth of the matter.

The answer should have been clear one way or the other, yet he didn't pull himself out of bed until it was nearly time for dinner. When he descended the stairs he was greeted by the sight of Gladio in the kitchen and the smell of food cooking. "Is Noctis not back yet?"

Even from behind, Ignis could make out the shake of Gladio's head. "He'll be back though, I'm sure he's hungry by now."

"I'm sorry I left you to cook."

"It's fine. You needed to think, and it's nice to occasionally cook over something that's not an open flame."

"You could have done that too, if you'd wanted." Gladio chuckled as Ignis slid his arms around Gladio's waist. After lying in bed all day, and now being out here in the colder air, the warmth of Gladio's skin was very pleasing. "You're right, there's something to a role reversal, now and then."

"I do not have to be at the stove for you to hug me like that."

"No?" Ignis teased.

"No."

He could have teased more, but he let it drop. Somehow, even without doing anything all day, he felt tired. "So what did you make?"

"Chicken and biscuits."

"Sounds delightful." It smelled it too. Perhaps, if he weren't such a possessive bastard, he'd let Gladio cook more often. However, he _was_ a possessive bastard, and he had paid quite a bit for his stove, so after today it would indefinitely return to his control. Gladio would just have to deal with his open flames. Or buy his own stove.

It was at that very thought that the door opened again. Noctis slipped in, that bag loosely draped over one shoulder. He froze upon the sight of them, his face flushed, and his eyes turned away. "Do I need to leave again?"

"No,"Ignis assured him even as he pulled away. The loss of warmth truly felt like a loss, but that was something that could be revisited later. "Did you have a nice walk?"

"Dad, I was gone all day."

"And there is nothing to say you didn't spend all of it walking."

Noctis shrugged. "I didn't. Really. I. Went through town."

"And?"

"And the people here are bitches."

Ignis sighed, biting back a reprimand about the swearing. He had no place to tell him to stop, now did he? No. If Iris had not stopped language like that, it was far too late for him to start trying. It was also not a sentiment he could much argue all in itself. He had settled here, but it wasn't the friendliest of towns, especially not to new faces. "At least they know what you look like now."

"I guess." His shoulders hunched up defensively, and Ignis found himself biting back another sigh.

"Noctis."

"Yeah?"

"I've spent my day thinking about what you've told us." Us, because Gladio was a part of it too. He would be affected by this too. Ignis suspected that Gladio would opt to come along, though, even if he didn't, he would still be affected by this news and the decision that went with it.

"Okay?" Noctis shuffled his feet, his eyes practically burning a hole through the wood of his floor.

"I'd need a few days, to get things in order here. Can we wait that long?"

The answer he got was at first Noctis' head jerking up to stare at him, and then, all at once, he had his arms filled with Noctis. He could smell the early autumn air still coming off of him. He could still feel its chill through his clothes. Noctis was saying nothing, but his embrace was nearly as tight as Gladio's and twice as desperate. He looked back at Gladio, who only shrugged his shoulders.

Awkwardly, for he truly felt awkward about all of it, he reached up and ran his fingers through Noctis' hair. His other arm wrapped around the boy's shoulders. Those shoulders began to tremble, and Ignis was surprised to realize that Noctis was crying. He held on tighter.

"Thank you."


	18. In Which There is Too Much Traveling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday!
> 
> You know what they say; "It's the journey not the destination"? I don't hold by that. I hate writing out long and detailed journeys, and to be honest I don't really like reading them either, unless I feel that there's good character growth and plot points in the journey (or the journey is the plot.) There's not here, so you're really kind of getting one plot point (you can guess what it is) and sort of a skimming over the travelling because I don't have the patience or desire.
> 
> Please enjoy anyway. <3

It really did take him a couple of days to get things in order. He made and personally delivered every potion order he currently had. He had no idea when he'd be back, after all, so people needed to be aware of his absence, and that it would probably be a couple months before he returned. When people asked, and they did ask, he told them that he'd be back before winter set in. He wasn't sure if that would actually be true, but he knew that was the goal. Both Noctis and Gladio seemed to agree that they did not want to be stuck in the north after the first couple of snowfalls, and Ignis was inclined to agree, even without being a steady traveler himself.

While he went around preparing people for his upcoming absence, Gladio and Noctis prepared for them being on the road. He left them to it. Though he had done some traveling before he'd settled his roots here, it had all been in the name of research, and had been strictly from town to town. Beyond that, it had been more than three decades since he'd done any traveling, and considering he'd never been very serious about it in the first place...it was better to leave such things to those that knew them well.

He did find it odd though, he assumed that they were stocking up on supplies and anything else that they'd need for nights when they weren't in towns, yet whenever he returned to the house there wasn't any more less than there had been before, no bulk or packaging, no bags that would need to be carried. He knew Gladio had a stash of personal things that he always left near the Wishing Tree when he came into towns, but when he asked Gladio said he'd be leaving most of that in town, in the house if Ignis was all right with that (he was) since he wasn't planning on doing a lot of selling on this trip. That still begged the question of where everything they were preparing was going.

He got his answer the night before they actually left. It began with a question from Noctis just after supper. "Do you have anyone to watch the house?"

The short answer was no, but Ignis had never been one to skip over teasing. "I don't think anyone is going to loot the house, Noctis."

Noctis made a sound of clear disagreement with his tongue. "I'll just...get that covered for you."

For a moment, Ignis was left wondering how Noctis was going to get a house-sitter in a town where Noctis didn't really know anyone, and seemed to like them all even less. Then, Noctis opened his bag, and Ignis was very alarmed when he stuck his whole arm down into it. He looked over to Gladio, who was watching, but he seemed unconcerned, if a little exasperated. Ignis, on the other hand became even more concerned when Noctis withdrew his arm and on the end of it was a cat. It was an orange tabby, and when it made eye contact with him, it meowed.

"Birdie's a good protector." Birdie was sat on the ground, and back into the bag the arm went. When the arm came back out again, there was _another_ cat. This one was gray, and you couldn't even see Noctis' hand in among all the fur. "Stormy's a good cuddler, he'll keep Birdie company." He sat Stormy on the ground next to Birdie, and they both wandered off in different directions.

Together, the two cats had certainly been bigger than the bag they'd come out of. If he hadn't already been sitting, he would have needed to sit.

"Are you okay?"

Gladio gave a short laugh. "He's fine, Noct. He's just still working it out."

"Working what out?"

Ignis placed his head in his hands. "You have a bag of holding." It wasn't a question. It was a fact. There was no other explanation for it.

"Yeah." When Ignis glanced up again, he was smiling. "Mom got it for me a few years back. She told me the guy she got it off of really didn't know what he had. Got it super cheap for what it is."

"Do you know what else I know Iris told you?" Gladio said in his chiding tone, the one Ignis was used to hearing deep in the winter when he got ill and wasn't taking care of himself as well as Gladio wanted him to.

"Hm?"

"Not to keep cats in the bag."

Noctis scoffed. "Mom told me it was to keep important things in. There's nothing more important than cats."

Ignis was trying not to laugh, there were supposedly only ten bags of holding in the whole of the world. One of them was in his house and it was apparently being largely used to carry cats. "Please tell me you let the cats out of the bag from time to time."

Gladio groaned. "That was bad and you should feel bad."

He didn't, of course. Ignis never felt bad about making puns. It also felt better to know that this was probably where all their supplies had been going. Knowing was comforting, and knowing that the bag had never seemed to weigh down on Noctis before, so he probably didn't feel the weight of what was inside was comforting too. They could travel as heavily as they liked, and still feel like they were traveling light. That was good.

They left before dawn the next morning.

It wasn't long before Ignis could see the difference between him, Gladio, and Noctis. By noon, Ignis was tired, but Gladio and Noctis didn't even seem winded. Of course not, they'd both traveled for most of their lives, and for Ignis, walking to the opposite side of town was a trek. His muscles weren't used to anything like this, especially when the pace and path that Noctis set didn't always involve actual set paths. When he'd traveled in his youth, his trips had always stuck to roads. Neither of his companions seemed to need them, and they never seemed to tire.

When they stopped for the night, Ignis was almost positive they'd stopped an hour or two early, because he was genuinely starting to fall behind. It was a terrible feeling, yet even before they ate, he was half asleep and aching all over, so he also couldn't help but feel grateful. He was fairly certain he actually fell asleep on the cold ground, though he didn't wake up that way the next morning.

The second day was worse. Though sleeping had been very restful, the aches had settled into his body as soreness and stiffness, and for a while it seemed like every move was a great struggle. He knew their pace was slowed because of it. At one point Gladio asked if he wanted to be carried, to which Ignis snapped back "Absolutely not." He was _not_ going to be carried through this. He would adjust. He just wished that he'd adjust faster.

He again fell asleep nearly as soon as he'd eaten, but day three was better. The soreness and stiffness still existed of course, but he seemed to finally be catching up to it. Perhaps he was simply imagining it, but it was longer before he truly began to feel tired, and he kept up with the other two more easily. Perhaps he was also imagining the smile on Noctis' face as he did so.

By sunset, they reached a bridge, and Noctis stopped them there. "There's a human town just beyond here," Noctis was looking solely at him, Ignis realized after a moment, probably because Gladio knew exactly what was beyond here. It was probably in his route, or even perhaps what used to be his route, as it was fairly far out from his own town. "We're going to spend the night here, but. Uh." Noctis bit his lip, eyes cast downward and hands miming up at his hunched shoulders. Oh. His cloak. It was very witch-like. Of course it was, it was a cloak. He slipped it off and sat it in Noctis' outstretched hand. "Is there anything else I should remove or add?"

Noctis gave him a once over as he was stuffing the cloak into the bag, but it was Gladio who spoke. "I think as long as you don't do magic, we'll be fine."

Ignis lingered to the back of their small group anyway, and let Gladio do the talking at the inn. He felt a great deal safer once they were up in a room, away from all the eyes that Ignis knew he was probably just imagining were staring at them. Noctis clearly had no fear of this at all, because nearly as soon as they had settled in he was going back out.

"Be careful!" He found himself calling after him, even though Noctis was not a small child and almost assuredly knew what he was doing better than Ignis did. When the door clicked shut again, Ignis fell back onto the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"As though I haven't done this much walking in thirty years."

"You gonna be okay?"

"Yes," Ignis closed his eyes. He could feel himself half fall asleep from that motion alone. The desire to throbbed in his veins. "I just need to get used to it. Maybe take more long walks afterward." Not that he had ever expected to be doing this much walking again. Then again, he hadn't really ever expected to be doing this much walking now either.

"Hopefully, by the time you've gotten used to it, we'll be on our way back."

"So you want me to get used to it, but not too used to it."

"Can't have you getting a traveling itch."

They both sort of chuckled at that, but Ignis suspected Gladio was serious about not wanting Ignis to get too used to traveling. Perhaps he was projecting, but he liked to think that Gladio liked having a permanent place that he could go. A form of stability. He hoped Gladio didn't think that this trip was going to endanger that. It wasn't.

The next thing Ignis was aware of Noctis has returned with food from the inn's kitchens. He must have truly fallen asleep. The sad truth was that he fell asleep again immediately after eating and did not wake up again until they were preparing to leave the next morning.

They'd been traveling for about a week when the aches began to subside and Ignis felt like he was truly beginning to gain the strength to keep up with the pace Noctis and Gladio set better. It was also at about this time that Ignis began to notice that it was getting colder. Naturally it was because they were going north, and it was nearly winter time, but for Ignis, the temperatures got biting rather quickly, and he began to worry. "How far north is this place?" He asked eight days in.

"Really north," was Noctis' answer, which, of course, was not helpful at all.

The answer he got when he finally asked how many more days it would take them to get there was also rather unhelpful. "I don't know. I know how to get there, but I got there by magic. I don't know how much longer by foot." It was an honest answer, which Ignis truly appreciated over a reassuring answer of soon or an arbitrary answer like three or four days, but it certainly wasn't helpful.

It was two more days, a drop of several more degrees, and the internal promise that he was definitely never getting an itch to travel before they reached the first sign. The first sign that they ought to turn around and go back. The first sign that there was something very wrong up here in the north. The first real sign that perhaps what Noctis was saying was actually true, and Prompto wasn't up here willingly.

They passed the smallest Wishing Tree Ignis had ever seen on the way into the small village. It was barely bigger than Gladio, and Ignis would know, considering that he watched Gladio stand beside it, hand against its white bark. Ignis thought he must have been talking to it. His lips weren't moving, but his face was shifting through expressions. Eventually, he drew his hand away. "What did it tell you?"

"She's a regrowth."

Another she. Idly, Ignis wondered if all Wishing Trees were shes. Now wasn't really the time to ask. "I wasn't aware Wishing Trees could regrow." At least not in the way that this implied. Their own tree had regrown a rather large limb after the attack from the coeurl. It had taken almost the entire time between then and now to do it, but their tree was now whole again. That was different than this. This was rather implying that the whole tree had grown back.

"They normally don't." Gladio paused, his nose crinkled up in an expression that Ignis might say was adorable, if it weren't more currently more concerning. "She says she had help...from someone like me."

There was definitely something wrong here, yet, "Did she say anything else about this someone like you?"

Slowly, Gladio shook his head. "No. She only says that she was burned down some decades back. By a witch."

Ignis hissed. "Oathbreaker." Perhaps it was the coeurl. Perhaps it was someone else. Either way, a quiet hate settled in his heart, and there it would stay.

There was no expectation of any witch town to be particularly friendly to travelers, even ones that made it past the Wishing Tree were treated with suspicion until they chose to settle down there, and oftentimes even then it was a while before there was any real acceptance. Ignis had expected that of course, but the people of this town treated them with something incredibly close to open hostility, and he was grateful when Gladio said that he'd rather take his chances sleeping on the cold hard ground than try to sleep in the town itself.

They moved on before nightfall, and it left Ignis feeling shaken. There was definitely something wrong up here. He wasn't a fixer. He couldn't change it, and even if he could he wouldn't know where to start.

A hand slipped into his own. When Ignis looked up, he was surprised to find that it was Noctis standing beside him, and not Gladio. "Don't worry, Dad," Noctis said softly as he bumped their shoulders together. "It wasn't far beyond here. Maybe another day or two. Then we'll do what we came to do, and get out of here."

"So you feel it too?"

"Yeah. There's something magically fucked up here." Noctis squeezed his hand firmly, and then let their hands fall apart. Ignis thought that perhaps he'd felt a tremble in Noctis' hand. A glance down confirmed it, though Noctis quickly folded his arms, eyes cast down toward the ground. Oh yes, Ignis thought. Noctis definitely felt it too.

"Then let's not linger."

"No." Noctis breathed in. "Let's go get Dad."


End file.
